Full text of "The life of George Grenfell : Congo missionary and explorer"

See other formats

Smithsonian

Institution

Libraries

From the

RUSSELL E. TRAIN
AFRICANA COLLECTION

,<7//

/ J

i | glL

THE LIFE OF GEORGE GRENFELL

THE LIFE OF
GEORGE GRENFELL

CONGO MISSIONARY AND EXPLORER

By GEORGE HAWKER

Minister of Camden Road Baptist Church , London

WITH PHOTOGRAVURE PORTRAIT \ MAPS ,
AND ILLUSTRATIONS FROM PHOTOGRAPHS

LONDON

THE RELIGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY

4 Bouverie Street and 65 St. Paul’s Churchyard, E.C.

1909

3^x5
Gi 1 HH

ALFRED HENRY BAYNES

who was Grenfell’s friend and counsellor and

CONFIDANT FOR THIRTY YEARS, WHO GAVE HIM
UNSTINTED LOVE AND TRUST AND RECEIVED AN
EQUAL RETURN,

THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED WITH THE AUTHOR'S
AFFECTIONATE ESTEEM

INTRODUCTION

WHEN I was requested by the Committee of
the Baptist Missionary Society to write the
biography of my friend and former fellow-student,
George Grenfell, it was stipulated that the volume
should contain a section of about a hundred pages to
be contributed by an expert (Sir Harry Johnston, if
possible), in which the scientific side of Grenfell’s work
should be duly discussed and appraised. Subsequently,
Sir Harry Johnston consented to undertake this task.
But when Grenfell’s papers and journals came to hand,
it was apparent that two or three chapters included in
a general biography would be quite inadequate for the
worthy treatment of Grenfell’s scientific achievements.
It was therefore arranged that Sir Harry Johnston
should write a separate work, an arrangement in which
I cordially concurred.

That work has been published under the title George
Grenfell and the Congo , and has secured the high encomiums
of competent critics. The writer has given a vivid
account of Grenfell’s travels and observations, enriched
by his own stores of African learning ; and incidentally
he has given an impartial, authoritative, yet glowing
appreciation of the humanitarian and scientific value of
the work of African missionaries, for which the whole
Christian Church, and especially the Baptist denomination,

Introduction

viii

will be ever grateful to one who has attained distinction
as scholar, explorer, and colonial administrator.

By arrangement Sir Harry Johnston’s theme was
‘ Grenfell the Explorer ’ ; mine, ‘ Grenfell the Mission-
ary.’ But it is obvious that in the case of a traveller
who was always a missionary, and a missionary who
was always a traveller, such delimitation could not be
rigorously observed. Sir Harry Johnston was con-
strained to write missionary chapters, and in these pages
the missionary is seen for the most part en voyage . He
would have ordered his life otherwise, but bowed to the
will of God as revealed in urgent circumstances.

My work is based on Grenfell’s letters, mostly hitherto
unpublished, and I have been ruled by the single purpose
of providing the reader with the means of knowing
George Grenfell. As far as possible I have employed
his own words, allowing him to disclose himself. The
task has not been a light one. Though Grenfell
published little, and left nothing in the form of autobio-
graphy, he was a voluminous correspondent, and the
making of this book has involved the critical reading of
thousands of pages of his manuscript.

Both Sir Harry Johnston and I are under obligation
to the Committee of the Baptist Missionary Society for
granting us the assistance of the Rev. Lawson Forfeitt,
who was for many years the Society’s Secretary on the
Congo (in which capacity he rendered important and
unique service), and who was one of Grenfell’s most
intimate friends.

Sir Harry Johnston has made generous and graceful
acknowledgment of the value of Mr. Forfeitt’s service,
and I, who am the greater debtor, confess that his
co-operation has been indispensable. Mr. Forfeitt has
greatly relieved me in the labour of collecting, arranging,

Introduction

and sifting the immense mass of material placed at our
disposal, and has been my trusty counsellor at every
critical point ; for which service and much other kind-
ness I tender him my warmest thanks. If the work
should be found reasonably free from errors, it will be
largely due to the vigilance of my friend, and to his
expert knowledge of Congo problems and affairs.

Having regard to the simplicity of Grenfell’s nature, I
have not thought it necessary to include a chapter of
formal and analytical appreciation. His outstanding
characteristics are written in large letters, and he who
runs may read. Yet in one respect this presentment of
the man may surprise some who had much intercourse
with him. Though intensely devout he was not an
effusive pietist. Spiritually he was a shy man. The
flowers of his soul required for their unfolding an
atmosphere of peculiar sympathy, and his wistful
saintliness would hide itself from admirable persons of
differing temperament, who would think of him in chief
as the geographer, the accountant, and the engineer.
Others, no less appreciative of his practical genius, will
remember him first of all, as a tender-hearted man
of God.

Grenfell’s modesty veiled him from the world. In
this book the veil is drawn aside. Here the man
appears, largely as pictured by himself, in his intimate
correspondence. The mechanic, slaving in stoke-hole
gear, with odd shoes tied up with bush grass : the
distinguished explorer, feted at a Governor’s palace, or
dining with a King : the missionary of Jesus Christ
watching with tense emotion by the deathbed of an
African boy, whose eyes are lit up by the ineffable
vision : the soldier of the Cross, stopping a battle by
means of moral courage and a bamboo stick : the man

Introduction

of business, evolving order out of chaos in affairs that
have been disarranged by disaster and death : the man
of letters, sitting down to write an essay in dignified and
measured English : the faithful friend, yearning in his
loneliness for the grip of a hand which he cannot reach,
and for ‘the kindly look in Jennie’s eyes’ ; the loving
father, pouring out his soul’s treasure for the spiritual
profit of a dear child in a distant land : the man of faith,
who is sure of God in the darkest hour : the workman
needing not to be ashamed, who toils till the tools drop
from his nerveless hand : the Christian gentleman,
courteously considerate of others to his last whispered
word — here he is revealed that the world may judge
him, if it cares to turn aside and see.

Grenfell’s latest years were rendered heavy and
sorrowful by the gross maladministration of the Congo
Government, involving the atrocious suffering and
untimely death of innumerable natives ; by its perverse
policy of hindrance in relation to Protestant missions ;
and,, in lesser degree, by misinterpretations of his own
attitude and conduct. He fondly believed that, if the
Congo State became a Belgian Colony, a new regime
would be inaugurated — and Protestant missionaries still
labouring on the Congo will only relinquish such
faith under dire compulsion. They are destitute of the
political animus which has been freely but erroneously
ascribed to them ; and none will rejoice more than they
if the Belgian nation, by humane and equitable rule
upon the Congo, should proceed to make reparation for
vast and cruel wrongs, the anguish of which shortened
Grenfell’s journey to the grave.

I have found it impossible, without undue extension
of this volume, to include tributes to the character and
work of George Grenfell, elicited by his death. Two

Introduction

memorial services should, however, be mentioned. The
first was held in Bloomsbury Church, London, on
September 19, 1906. It was addressed by leaders of the
Baptist denomination, and by Sir Harry Johnston,
G.C.M.G., K.C.B., who was delegated to represent the
Royal Geographical Society. His generous appreciation
spoken upon that occasion has been elaborated in the
important work already mentioned.

On September 24, 1907, memorial meetings were
held in Heneage Street Baptist Church, Birmingham,
and in the course of the proceedings a tablet, erected in
the church, was unveiled by the Rev. Benwell Bird, who
was minister in Grenfell’s day ; a Grenfell Museum was
opened, and addresses were delivered by men who had
known and loved him from boyhood, and by colleagues
who had wrought with him in the field.

In the course of an address then delivered the Rev.
Lawson Forfeitt bore his own witness to the loftiness of
Grenfell’s character and the value of his work, and cited
other significant testimonies, brief extracts from which
are here reproduced.

The Times said, at the time of his death : ‘Few
explorers in any part of the world have made such
extensive and valuable contributions to geographical
knowledge as this modest missionary, who, had he
possessed the ambition and the “ push ” of men who have
not done a tithe of his work, would have been loaded
with honours. . . .’

Dr. Scott Keltie, Secretary of the Royal Geographical
Society, wrote : ‘ Mr. Grenfell was one of the ablest and
most intelligent of African explorers. Mr. Grenfell was
a man of exceeding modesty. Had he been bent on
fame and money-making, he might have been one of the
best-known travellers of his time, and might, years ago,

XI 1

Introduction

have made a competency ; but he seems not to have
cared for any of those things. In my opinion he deserves
to be placed in the first rank among African explorers/

The Royal Geographical Journal said of Grenfell :
‘ His geographical labours were not allowed to interfere
with his primary work as a missionary, to which he
devoted himself with unflagging zeal to the last/

Lord Montmorres, in his book on the Congo, says :

‘ Mr. Grenfell was one of the grand old school of British
missionaries, whose loss will be an absolutely irreparable
one to the cause of humanity, and the progress of white
rule in Africa/

One of the most notable tributes was written by the
well-known Belgian Geographer, Monsieur A. J. Wauters,
in Le Mouvement Geographique . It contained the
following sentences : —

‘ George Grenfell, who has just been struck down by
death, is one of the most noble figures in the history of
the foundation of the Congo Free State.

‘ Grenfell explored and evangelised Central Africa
after the fashion of Dr. Livingstone. ... He came as a
man of peace, winning the confidence of the savage
natives by his patience, tact, and cleverness, taking care
not to respond by violence to the brutish diffidence of
these primitive beings. . . .

‘ When we consider that the conquest of new land is
so often accompanied, in spite of all, by abuses, excesses,
and by guilty practices and doings, condemned by civilisa-
tion, it is refreshing to be able to recall the remembrance
of this good man, a missionary in the purest sense of the
word ; who succeeded, as the messenger of peace, in
irradiating the immense basin of the Congo by his
itineraries and in endowing its geography with fixed points,
carefully determined by astronomical observations/

Introduction

Xlll

Perhaps the noblest verbal tribute to Grenfell’s
character is contained in a letter written by one of his
colleagues, who knew him well, and was with him when
he died. Writing to the Rev. C. E. Wilson, under date,
Yalemba, July 4, 1906, the Rev. W. Millman says : ‘All
the white men in the district took the opportunity of
testifying their respect for the departed veteran and their
sympathy with the bereaved family and with the Mission.
The Roman Catholic priest asked to be permitted to
attend the funeral and render homage to the man who,
he said, was a noble man and good. And we two
missionaries with broken hearts — for this day the Lord
had taken away our head, in whom the beatitudes were
exemplified even unto the bitter last — committed his
body to the grave, in sure and certain hope of the
Resurrection through Jesus Christ our Lord.’

My thanks are due, and are hereby cordially tendered,
to friends who have supplied me with material used in the
preparation of this volume. To Mrs. Grenfell, for several
important interviews ; to Mr. Joseph Hawkes, for the use
of Grenfell’s private papers, committed to his charge ; to
Mr. A. H. Baynes, Honorary Secretary of the B.M.S.,
and the Rev. C. E. Wilson, B.A., General Secretary of the
B.M.S., for access to the archives of the Mission House,
and for sympathetic counsel ; to Grenfell’s several corre-
spondents who have granted the loan of private letters,
and whose names are mentioned in the narrative ; to
Mrs. Rowe, of Sancreed (Grenfell’s sister), and to several
of his old friends in Birmingham, for particulars of his
early life ; to the Rev. John Stona, M. A., Vicar of Sancreed,
for much courtesy and for particulars concerning one
whom he knew well and esteemed highly, and who was
an occasional worshipper in the beautiful parish church

XIV

Introduction

of his fathers ; to the Rev. Thomas Taylor, M.A., Vicar of
St. Just-in-Penwith, for his marked kindness in tracing
Grenfell’s genealogy ; to the Rev. R. V. Glennie, for
translating Baluti’s touching story of the last days of his
‘ Master ’ ; and to other of Grenfell’s colleagues who have
made interesting verbal communications.

Acknowledgments are also due to the following for
the use of valuable photographs : the Rev. William
Forfeitt, Mr. Thomas Lewis, of Birmingham, and other of
Grenfell’s colleagues and friends. Several of his own
photographs have also been used in illustration.

It may not be unnecessary that the following abbrevia-
tions which frequently occur in the text should be here
explained : A.B.M.U. — American Baptist Missionary
Union ; B.M.S. — Baptist Missionary Society ; C.B.M. —
Congo Balolo Mission ; C.M.S. — Church Missionary
Society ; L.I.M.— Livingstone Inland Mission.

It should be mentioned also that Grenfell was known
to the natives as ‘ Tala Tala ’ (‘ Look ! Look ! ’), a name
suggested by his spectacles. Later, when his hair had
grown white, he was known as ‘ Nkoko’ (‘Grandfather’).

And now it is my desire and prayer that by means
of this book the ancient word may be fulfilled in the
case of my friend, whom I knew well thirty years
ago, and whom I know better now : ‘ He being dead
yet speaketh.’

Anson Road, London, N.
March, 1909.

GEORGE HAWKER.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I
EARLY YEARS

PAGE

Birthplace — Removal to Birmingham — Influence of Early
Surroundings — * ‘ Shan't 5 — Saner eed — Ennis Cottage —
Grenfell born Aug. 21, 1849 — Grandparents and Pare?its
— Father's Character — The Family Tree — Grandfatherly
Solicitude — Grenfell at School — The Doctor's Forecast —
Heneage Street Baptist Church — Sunday School — George
Grenfell and Joseph Hawkes — Enters the Church— The
Rev. Samuel Chapman — Friends and Helpers — James
Weston — Strenuous Sundays — The Bloomsbury Theo-
logical Class — Its Meetings — The Class and the Roman
Catholic Bishop— Grenfell as a Teacher — 1 Will it Wash ? ’

— Apprenticeship — Responsibility — Foundation of a?i
Auxiliary of the B.M.S. — Its Magazine — The Three-
penny Bit — Desire for Missionary Work — Enters Bristol
College 1

CHAPTER II

COLLEGE DAYS

The Baptist College , Bristol — Stokes Croft in Grenfell's Day
— The College Traditions — Dr. Gotch and his Methods —

The Rev. J. G. Gree?ihough — College Life and Experi-
ences Described — Robert Hall's Oddities — Accepted as
Full Student — Thoughts of Africa — Dr. Underhill's
Letter — Possible Call — Recreation — The Rev. H. C. Bailey's
Recollections — lA Near Thing ' — The Summons — Letter
from Mr. Saker — A ccepted for the Cameroons — Prepara-
tions— Designation Service — Saker and the Slave-trade —
Liverpool Experiences — Personal Recollections — Grenfell
at College — A nd Thirty Years Later . . . .24

XVI

Contents

CHAPTER III
AT THE CAMEROONS

PAGE

A Vaccination Patient — Announcing a Death — A
Perilous Custom — Marriage Customs — Seizure for Debt
— Female Hardships — Grenfell and his Pupils — The
Story of Ewangi — A Grateful Patient — A Tragedy and
its Sequel — An Up-river Journey — Preaching by the
Way — Exploring Water-ways — Feminine Curiosity —
Things seen on the Journey — Happiness in the Work —

Visits the Abo Towns — 1 Ebo' Houses — Return Journey
— ^ Af rids S tinny Fountains' — Impressions of the Abo
People — The Country and its Products — Visit to Bethel
— Domestic Woes — Life from Day to Day . . 45

CHAPTER IV

AT THE CAMEROONS— continued

In Ill-health — On the Way Home — Arrival — Marriage —
Return to Cameroons — ‘ Exciting Time' on the River —
Death of Mr. Smith — Added Responsibility — Slow
Progress of the Gospel — Death of Mrs. Grenfell — ‘ A
Sad New Year ' — Daily Life — And Daily Costume —
Difficulties with Spanish A uthorities — Views on Interior
Missions — Geography of the District — Hopes of Better
Times — A Snake Story — Dumbi — The Rev. J. J. Fuller
— Grenfell and Comber 72

CHAPTER V

PIONEERING ON THE LOWER CONGO

Discovery of the Congo — Mr. Stanley's Journey — San Salva-
dor— Mr. Arlington's Offer — ‘ Africa for Christ ' — Mr.
Arthington' s Letter — Starting of the Congo Mission —
Decision of Grenfell and Comber — Spying out the Land
— Description of the Country — Grenfell and his Boat —

A Jesuit Priest — Jack the Donkey — Reception at San
Salvador — Arrival at Makuta — Grenfell's Second
Marriage — Reinforcements — Chain of Stations — Native
Houses — Difficidties of Transport — Romish Oppositio?i —
Isangila — Manyanga — The Basundi . . ■ 91

Contents xvii

CHAPTER VI

THE COMING OF THE ‘PEACE’

PAGE

Grenfell's Love for the Ship — Mr. Arthington's Gift — Return
of Grenfell to England — ‘ Down in the Dumps' — Loss
of the ‘ Ethiopia ' — Launch of the ‘ Peace 5 — Stanley Pool
Station Started — Dr. Stanford's Sermon — Speech of Mr.
Joseph Tritton — Grenfell's Speech — Speech of Mr. Doke
— The Voyage Out — Christmas Pudding — A Noah's Ark
— Arrival at Banana — Death of Grenfell's Child — Death
of Mr. Doke — Death of Mr. Hartland — Journey to
Stanley Pool — Bad Administrations — A Sudden
Marriagt 12 1

CHAPTER VII

THE COMING OF THE ‘ PEACE’-continued

Stopped in a Journey by Armed Natives — Death of Mr.
Butcher — Life at Stanley Pool — Story of an Adjutant —

Love A fairs of Nlemvo and Lungu — A Glorious Break-
fast— Death of Quentin Thomson, Hartley, and Two
Engineers — Death of Grenfell's Father — The ‘ Peace '
put together — Native Workmen — Launch of the 1 Peace '

— Letter to Mr. Barnaby — His Appreciation . . .151

CHAPTER VIII

BOAT JOURNEY TO THE EQUATOR

Up-river Journey — Equipment — The Start — The Medicine
Man — Mswata — The Kwango — Chumbiri — Bolobo —
Night in the Forest — River Dangers — Lukolela Towns —

Nebu — Stanley's Equator Station — The Return Journey
— The Need of Help 171

CHAPTER IX

THE FIRST VOYAGE OF THE ‘PEACE’

Success of the ‘ Peace ' — Meeting with Sir Francis de W in ton
— Unruly Schoolboys — Wood - cutting — The Kwa —
Mushie Town — Nga Nkabi — Chumbiri' s Town — The
Lone Island — A Difficult Channel — The Bay ansi — Mole
— Eighty Chiefs — The Bolobo People — Hitman Sacrifices
— The Banunu — Lukolela — Ngombe — The Wangi River
— The Lulongo River — Dense Population — Boshende

xviii Contents

PAGE

Towns — Blood Brotherhood — Equatorial Towns — Dress ,
Arms , and Cruelty of the People — Modes of Execution —

The Ruki River — Bangala Towns — Character of the
Natives — Mengaba — Need for Caution — Bokolela Towns
— Liboko — Site of Stanley's Battle — Mata Mayiki —
Tatooing — Results *183

CHAPTER X

FROM AUTUMN, 1884, TO AUTUMN, 1887

GrenfelPs Literary Style — Bentley's Testimony to Grenfell's
Work — Astronomical Work — Loss by Bad Packing —

First Printing done at Stanley Pool — The Mubangi — A
Poor Christinas Dinner — Attacked by Natives — Meeting
with Tippoo Tib — The Lubilast — In Deaths oft — Illness
of Mr. Whitley — The Boy Zwarky — Arab Slave Raids
— Child Interpreters- — The Lulongo-Maringa — Cannibals
—-Hippopotami Hunting — Sir F. de W inton's Protests —

His Tribute to Grenfell — Retrogressive Policy of the
State — The Boy Kamisi 206

CHAPTER XI

FROM AUTUMN, 1884, TO AUTUMN, 1887— continued

A Destructive Fire — Position of Arabs — A Brave Official —

Mr. Arthington's Inquiries — Dock Difficulties — Arab
Success at Stanley Falls — Lukolela Station Founded —

A Letter of Thanks — The Kwango — Homeward Bound
— Scarcity — Interview with the King of the Belgians —
Heavy Tidings — Death of Comber — Grenfells Anxiety
to Return to the Congo — Translation Work — Programme
of Work . - 230

CHAPTER XII

FORWARD MOVEMENTS ON THE UPPER
RIVER

Death of Whitley and Biggs— A Bottle of Ammonia Fort—
Christmas on the Kwilu River— Arrival at Stanley Pool
— Death of Belgian Officers — New Stations formed—

— Health Precautions — The ‘ Down Grade ’ — Mission
Work at Arthington — Mr.Wilmot Brooke — The Question

Contents

XIX

PAGE

of Advance or Retreat — Death of Richards — A Tornado
—Grenfell's Refusal to come Home — At Bolobo — Death
of Slade — First Baptismal Service at Bolobo — Death of
Jack Dikulu — Darby's Work — His Dog — Ten Com-
mandments Translated — Upoto — Over Forty — Another
Christmas — Another Little War — Translation of St.
Mark's Gospel — Advantages of Upoto — Mr. Lawson
Forfeit fs Letter — Slave-killing — Mr. Arlington's
Desire to go Forward 255

CHAPTER XIII

THE SEIZURE OF THE ‘PEACE,’ AND THE
COMING OF THE ‘GOODWILL’

Seizure of the 1 Peace ' — Mr. White's Letter — Letters of Gren-
fell upon the Seizure — Firmness of Mr. Forfeitt — Build-
ing of the ‘ Goodwill ' — Death of Mrs. P. Comber — Visit
of the King of the Belgians to England — Grenfell's
Review of the Work — Progress of the A rabs — Receives
a Belgian Order — Bolobo Towns Burnt — Launch of the
‘ Goodwill ' 291

CHAPTER XIV

THE LUNDA EXPEDITION

Asked to join a Belgian Commission — Financial Arrange-
ments — Grenfell's Embarkation — A Terrific Storm —
Ministry of Mamma Hartland' — Landing at Matadi —

The Start — Tungwa — Stopped by War — Tenders his
Resignation — Work of Steane — Declaration of Peace —

Food Supply Difficulties— The Rainy Season — The High-
lands — Swamps — A Plague of Flies — The Small-
pox— The Return Journey — On Livingstone's Path —

— At Loanda — Death of Mrs. Cameron — A Grand
Reception 307

CHAPTER XV

BOLOBO AND YAKUSU— 1893 to 1896

Contents

PAGE

of Mr. Balfern — The Aruwimi — A Chapter of Accidents
— Difficulties with the State Officers — Staff Changes — A
School Treat — Girl Swimmers — Roast Beef and Plum
P lidding — Wickedness of Bolobo People — Wreck of the
c Courbet ’ — A Slave Snatched from Death — Losses by
Death — Sargent Station — Fataki and his Wife — Loleka
Brickmaking and Building — French Treatment of
Natives — Treatment of Natives by the State — Plans for
the Future 334

CHAPTER XVI

MISSIONS AND SOCIAL RESULTS

Extent of Grenfell's Travels — Sierra Leone Missions — Place
of Education — The Labour-market — Results of Mission
Work at Cameroons — Increase of Trade — Benefit of
Missions — Punishment of Death — Waste of Human Life
— Rise of an Artisan Class — Influence of Language —
Results of Mission Work — Comments on Romish Missions
— Polygamy — Habits of Industry Inculcated — Evil Con-
ditions of Native Life — Missions the Only Hope . .381

CHAPTER XVII
‘IN JOURNEYINGS OFTEN’

Death of Grenfell's Daughter Pattie — A ‘ Bolt from the Blue ’

— Notice to quit Sargent Station — Changes and Death —

A Soldiers' Revolt — Progress of the Railway — Death of
Mrs. Scrivener — Proposed Prospecting Tour — Visit of M.

Buis — Natives sing, , ‘ Lo , He comes ’ — Breakdown of the
‘ Leon XI I II and other Steamers — Interview with Vice-
Governor Wangermee — Arrival at the Lindi Falls —

Posts attacked by Arabs — Miss Grenfell's Last Journey
— Dangers of the River Channel — Progress at Sargent
Station — Salamo , a Native Christian Girl — Translation
Work 399

CHAPTER XVIII
UP THE ARUWIMI

Lack of Rain causes Low Water in the Congo — Scarcity of
Food — A Slave Ransomed — Coffee Plantations — Popula-
tion of River District — Arab Raids — The Chief Pitika
receives a i Rating ’ — Strategic Position of Villages —

Contents

XXI

PAGE

Canoes on the A ruwimi—Mode of Poling — The Rapids —
Paint and Water — The Current — Tahiti's Home-coming
— Major Barttelofs Grave — Banalya Station — A Native
Blacksmith’ s Shop — Native Bellows — Carpenters and
their Tools — Basket-weaving — Game — Houses — A Blind
Youth — The Chief Pangani — Iron- smelting — Popoie —
Crocodiles — An Aged Chief— The Return Journey — The
Character of the Natives 430

CHAPTER XIX

ILLNESS AND LAST FURLOUGH

Plans Frustrated — Grenfell’s Serious Illness — Discussion
about a Sheep — St omits and Wrecks — Grace Grenfell on
her Travels — A Revolt at Boma — The Voyage Home —
Proposed Appeal to Principals of Colleges — Passage about
Newspaper Men — Grenfell at Brussels — Illness of him-
self and, Colleagues — His Welcome to Mr. Lawson
Forfeitt — Another Breakdown — Letter of Mr. Howell —
Farewells 450

CHAPTER XX

LETTERS TO HIS CHILDREN

A Monkey Story — Hostile Natives — Lessons — ‘ Brain Drill 5
needed — Loleka’s Story — The ‘ Eye of a Needle ’ — A
Birthday kept for an A bsent Child — A Piece of String
asked for — A Goat Drowned — The 1 Blues’ — Hints on
Reading — Accident to the ‘ Peace ’■ — A Swarm of Bees —
Difficult Navigation — Turned Back — Bible-reading —
Brussels — Importance of learning French . . . 470

CHAPTER XXI

BALKED BY THE STATE

XXII

Contents

PAGE

— Death of George Moore at Yakusu — The Lualaba —
Nyangwe — Illness of Grenfell — Return of Mr. Lawson
Forfeitt — Interview with British Consul — Voyage tip the
Kwango — Progress at Yakusu and Upoto — First Hymn-
book — Atrocities — The Engineer and Carpenter of the
4 Peace ' — Tsetse Flies — Sleeping Sickness — More Books
wanted — Crocodiles — The Lomami — Native Hymn-
singing-— Sickness again 490

CHAPTER XXII
TO YALEMBA AT LAST!

Resignation of Mr. Baynes-— Grenfells Affection for him —

* Withdrawal from Monsembe — Visit to Out-Stations —

‘ Keeping SchooP — Feuds at Yalemba — Unrest among
the People — Misrepresentations — Conference at Kinshasa
— Dr. Bentley's Death — Grenfell's Protest against the
State— -A Heavy Load for the £ Peace ' — The ‘ Endeavour'

— Wreck of the ‘ Roi des Beiges ' — Health of Missionaries 533

CHAPTER XXIII

‘THE DEATH OF “TATA” FINISHED5

Grenfell goes to Yakusu — Returns to Yalemba — An Insidious
Fever — Progress at Yalemba — A Debt 1 Palaver '■ —
Grenfell's House Fired — His Last Illness — His Last
Voyage — Doctor's Devotion — Mr. Millman's Journey —

£ Peace ' sent to meet Mr. Millman and Consul — Mr.
Kemp ton's Arrival — Hope Abandoned — Last Scenes —

The Dearest Tribute . . . . . . .561

INDEX 577

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

George Grenfell. Photogravure portrait . Frontispiece

FACING PAGE

Alfred Henry Baynes, Esq., F.R.A.S i

George Grenfell and Lawson Forfeitt, 1901 . . 1

George Grenfell as a Youth, at 19, and in Middle

Life 8

Grenfell’s Birthplace at Sancreed, near Penzance 8
Heneage Street Baptist Church, Birmingham . 26

Grenfell Memorial Tablet, Heneage Street Bap-
tist Church .26

Baptist College, Stokes Croft, Bristol ... 26

The Atlantic Aspect of the Beach at Banana Point,

Congo Mouth .100

Grenfell starting for San Salvador, 1878 . .100

Tree at San Salvador on which Grenfell and

Comber cut their Initials in 1878 . . .108

On the Road to San Salvador, crossing a Swamp 108
Congo Scenery in the Cataract Region, near

Stanley Pool 130

Old Underhill Station, and Hell’s Cauldron . 130

A Funeral Dance 148

A Dancing Woman and her Attendants . . .148

Mission Steamer ‘Peace’ at Bopoto Beach, Upper

Congo 166

Bakuba Axe from the Kasai-Sankuru . . .194

Executioners’ Choppers, Bangala Country . 194

War Spears from the Northern Congo . . .194

The Rev. Thomas J. Comber 208

The Rev. W. Holman Bentley, D.D 208

XXIV

List of Illustrations

FACING PAGE

The Rev. Thomas Lewis 208

Mission Canoe on the Upper Congo .... 240
Letting down Fishing Net at Bopoto .... 240
View in One of the Bolobo Towns .... 256

Chopo Falls, Lindi River 256

Bolobo : Grenfell’s House and Store, and the

School-Chapel, 1890 276

Bolobo Station ; Grenfell’s Home on the Upper

Congo 276

Arrival of the Revs. F. R. Oram and William

Forfeitt at Bopoto, 1890 288

A School Feast, Bopoto, Upper Congo . . .288

Native of Yakusu District 294

Chief of Yakusu and Wife . . . . .294

A Native of Bopoto 294

Pilot of the s.s. ‘ Peace ’ . 294

A Wrestling Match . 330

Crossing Kwilu River, Lunda Expedition . . . 330
Opening of the New Church, San Salvador . . 338
Grenfell and the Rev. Lawson Forfeitt at San

Salvador, 1893 338

Departure of s.s. ‘Goodwill’ from Bopoto to

found Yakusu Station 362

Mr. and Mrs. Grenfell on the s.s. ‘Peace,’ Aru-

wimi River 362

Grenfell’s Early Home, Bolobo 376

Grenfell’s Home, Bolobo 376

Native Carpenters at San Salvador . . . .394

Brickmaking at Bopoto ....... 394

Native Blacksmiths, Upper Congo . . . .394

Caravan Road, Cataract Region, Lower Congo . 408
Congo Railway and the River Congo, near Matadi 408

Fleet of Canoe Dwellings, Isangi, 1891 . . . 426

Stanley Falls . . 426

Bondonga Style of wearing the Hair . . . 444

Banalya People, on the Middle Aruwimi River . 444

List of Illustrations

XXV

FACING PAGE

View down River, from Matadi, with New Under-
hill 454

Grenfell in Camp on the Aruwimi River . . . 484

S.S. ‘Peace’ after a Tornado, Bolobo . . . .484

Riverside Town, Bopoto 484

Leopoldville, Stanley Pool ...... 496

Man-eating Crocodile, Bopoto ..... 496

S.S. ‘ Endeavour ’ off Kinshasa Beach .... 496

B.M.S. Mission Church, Bolobo 514

‘ Printing House Square,’ Bolobo . . . - .514

River Bank, Yalemba 534

Yalemba : General View of Grenfell’s Last Station,

1906 534

Grenfell’s Faithful Attendants at Yalemba and

Basoko . 544

B.M.S. Missionaries at the General Conference of

Missionaries at Kinshasa, Stanley Pool, 1906 . 544
Last Photograph of Grenfell, at Bopoto . . -556

Grenfell itinerating among Village Schools,

Upper Congo 556

Yalemba School-Chapel, April, 1906 .... 562

Yalemba : House where Grenfell lived prior to

his Death 562

Basoko, Upper Congo, where Grenfell is buried . 570
Grenfell’s Grave, Basoko . . . . . .570

MAPS

I. Western Equatorial Africa . End of volume

By J. W. Addison (by arrangement with Messrs,
Hutchinson &■ Co.)

II. The Cameroons

Showing GrenfelPs journeys , 1874-1878.

III. The Congo Mission, West Central Africa

Sketch Map showing the early operations of the Baptist
Missionary Society.

IV. Sketch Map of Congo River ....

To illustrate the journeyings of the Baptist Missionary
Society s.s. t Peace' (Grenfell, 1884).

V. Sketch Map showing Yakusu, Yalemba, and
Basoko

PAGE

7 1

254

560

ALFRED HENRY BAYNES, Esq., F.R.A.S.
Photo : Elliott & Fry.

THE REV. GEORGE GRENFELL. THE REV. LAWSON FORFEITT.
Taken during Grenfell’s last furlough in 1901.

Photo : W. Coles, Watford.

THE LIFE OF
GEORGE GRENFELL

CHAPTER I

EARLY YEARS

Birthplace— Removal to Birmingham— Influence of Early Surround-
ings— ‘ Shan’t ’ — Sancreed— Ennis Cottage— Grenfell bom Aug.
21, 1849— Grandparents and Parents— Father’s Character— The
Family Tree— Grandfatherly Solicitude— Grenfell at School—
The Doctor’s Forecast— Heneage Street Baptist Church—
Sunday School— George Grenfell and Joseph Hawkes — Enters
the Church— The Rev. Samuel Chapman — Friends and Helpers
— James Weston — Strenuous Sundays — The Bloomsbury Theo-
logical Class— Its Meetings— The Class and the Roman Catholic
Bishop— Grenfell as a Teacher— ‘Will it Wash ? ’—Apprentice-
ship— Responsibility — Foundation of an Auxiliary of the B.M.S.
— Its Magazine— The Threepenny Bit— Desire for Missionary
Work— Enters Bristol College.

EORGE GRENFELL, who will rank in history

> — J among the great missionaries who have also been
great explorers, was born at Sancreed, a sequestered
village lying on the uplands behind Penzance. He was
but three years old when his parents removed to
Birmingham, and his boyhood and youth were passed
in the smoke-stained atmosphere of the metropolis of
the Midlands. But Sancreed, often revisited and always
loved, must be reckoned with in any true appreciation
of his character and genius. The hush and the beauty
of the place, its clear skies and distant views of the

2 Early Years

boundless sea, contributed to the making of his mind.
And he came of a stock for whom the hills and the
fields, the cliffs — passing lovely in the sunshine but grim
as death in the storm — the sea — sometimes a tender
wooer, and sometimes a furious foe — and the few and
simple neighbours of the village or the fishing town,
made up the world.

Grenfell’s town life rendered him reasonably easy
among the multitude, but the deeper yearnings of his
heart were ever toward the wide simplicities of nature.
He hated every form of fuss. Applause and publicity,
which many covet, were positively painful to him. He
craved to be quiet and to do his work in peace. He
never wrote a book, though he might have written a
score, and made a competency. Some of his most vivid
and valuable writing was done in the wilds, and addressed
in the form of letters to mother, child, or friend.

Grenfell was a Cornishman by birth and breed ; and
the Cornish are a sturdy race, capable of wholesome
stubbornness. The metal of their native hills has passed
into their blood ; and the infinite perseverance and stead-
fast courage which characterized Grenfell’s work may be
accounted for in part by his Cornish extraction.

Long ago I heard a lecture by a Cornishman of note,
the Rev. Mark Guy Pearse, upon his own people. In
the course of a dramatic passage, he threw himself into
a typical attitude, assumed a typical expression, and
uttered the word ‘ Shan’t ! ’ The impression made was
indelible, and the Cornishman’s ‘ Shan’t ’ echoes in my
mind across the interval of a quarter of a century.

Grenfell could say ‘ Shan’t.’ There was a moment in
his life when it became in effect his reply to a behest
of the Committee of the Baptist Missionary Society,
formally conveyed to him by the letter of his ever dear

Sancreed

and honoured friend, Mr. Baynes. There had been
heavy losses on the field. Grenfell, who had curtailed
furlough in regard for solemn exigencies, was over-
worked and spent. Friends naturally became nervous,
and he was ordered home. His ‘ Shan’t ’ of course was
watered down by pages of gracious and apologetic
argument, but the gritty heart of it was there, and he
did not come.

Sancreed is f far from the madding crowd ’ ; yet a
thin stream of bustling life ripples near by through the
days of the summer months, and the muffled throbbing
of the motor-bus must sometimes break the stillness of
its quiet evenings. Tourists, with Land’s End for objec-
tive, leave the train at Penzance, and are conveyed
by motor past the docks, along the esplanade, through
the suburb to the borders of Newly n, now itself a
greater suburb of Penzance.

Crossing the bridge at the entrance to Newlyn, the
road turns sharply to the right, and the labouring
engines slowly climb the hill, beside a romantic stream
which tumbles swiftly to the sea. Half an hour of
charming up-and-down journeying brings the travellers
to a hamlet called Drift, and here, near the top of a
sharp ascent, the pilgrim to Grenfell’s birthplace parts
company with tourists, and, taking a by-road which leaves
the main track at right angles, makes for Sancreed.

A walk of a mile along a lonely high-lying road,
bordered by expansive hedges of bracken and bramble,
from which valleys drop away on either side, brings him
t© a point of view whence the heart of Sancreed is more
or less visible in winter, but in summer almost com-
pletely hidden. A big hill rises right ahead, skirted by
a wood, and in this wood lie embowered Sancreed
Church and * Church Town.’ The latter now consists

Early Years

of the Vicarage, the School and School-house, and the
homestead of the Glebe Farm, once an inn, but now a
private residence.

Passing through Church Town and emerging from
the wood, the wayfarer shortly comes to a Methodist
Chapel and a cluster of cottages. His road then
divides, and bearing to the left and clinging to the
broad shoulder of the hill he is at length rewarded
by the sight of Trannack Mill, nestling in what might
be called the nook of a little valley, through which
runs a stream, so exiguous that it is difficult to imagine
it turning a practicable wheel. The Mill is now merely
a farmstead, and living memory fails to fix the location
of the vanished wheel. It is approached by a green
track which runs beside the stream for a couple of
hundred yards ; and at the commencement of this track,
and on the edge of the estate, stands Ennis Cottage,
in which George Grenfell was born on August 21, 1849.

At the time of his birth his grandfather, John
Grenfell, worked the farm (some twenty-one acres in
extent) and was engaged in business as a carpenter,
having a workshop in Church Town. His son George,
Grenfell’s father, worked with him. But times were
bad. The decay of the mining industry, in which the
Grenfells had some direct interest, hurt them in their
business, besides involving loss in shares ; and in 1852
George Grenfell senior made his home in Birmingham.

John Grenfell of Trannack Mill hailed from St.
Just, and was brought up on the farm of his maternal
grandparents, Michael and Catherine Rowe, of Botree.1

1 One of the heirlooms of the family is a blue jug, which bears the
following inscription :

Mich1 and Cathe Rowe
Botree St. Greet

May the honest heart never know distress

1796

Grenfell’s Parents

He came to Trannack Mill upon his marriage with
Elizabeth Pollard, to whose family the estate formerly
belonged, and here were born their two sons, John, who
died in 1843 at the age of twenty-eight, George, the
father of the missionary, and also their daughter,
Elizabeth Pollard Grenfell, a woman of marked
saintliness, who enjoyed a close friendship with her
vicar’s daughter, a kindred spirit, and died upon a
visit to her brother’s house in Birmingham in 1856.

Grenfell’s father is spoken of as a man of quiet and
patient temper, singularly kind-hearted, but somewhat
wanting in the energy that makes way in the world.
He was a man of good intelligence, fond of reading,
a keen politician, and a strong conservative. He
had an excellent memory for dates and figures, an
admirable endowment in a political friend, a dis-
concerting peculiarity in a political foe. His mild
temper made him shrink from even needful severities,
and when domestic punishments were called for the
infliction was left to his wife. Happily she was a
woman of character, capable of winning love while
not withholding discipline, and the devotion of her
distinguished son is a golden thread running through
the fabric of both their lives. She, also, was a farmer’s
daughter, born at Gunwalloe, near Mullion, in 1823.
Small wonder that boyhood and youth spent in a vast
town failed to quench the in-bred love of outdoor life
in one who came of such a stock !

Though there is no proof that the matter ever gave
George Grenfell the slightest concern, it is interesting to
learn upon authority that the Grenfells of Trannack
Mill, and certain other Grenfells who have attained to
rank and place in the world, belong to branches of one
family. The Rev. Thomas Taylor, M.A., Vicar of St.

Early Years

Just-in-Pen with, the distinguished Cornish genealogist,
having kindly interested himself in the matter, writes
as follows, under date of March 5, 1907 : ‘ I have
solved the problem. Quite incidentally I learnt this
afternoon that John Grenfell, who married Catherine
Rowe, was the brother of William Grenfell, the grand-
father of Mr. Pascoe Grenfell, our school attendance
officer. So that either the age of John Grenfell
was incorrectly stated on the Sancreed monument, or
(which is quite likely) the monument was erected
to the memory of another John Grenfell. Gn a
separate slip I give you the pedigree. You will
now be quite justified in stating that George
Grenfell was nearly related to Lords Grenfell and
Desborough.’

1658

Paskow Greindfield = Juliana Oates.

John Greindfield = Rachel Tregear.

Paskow Grenfeld = Mary Maugham. John Grenfield = Alice Oates.

From whom Lord Grenfell !

and Lord Desborough. Paskow G. = Cordelia Giles.

1781

John Grenfell = Gath. Rowe. William G.

bapt. 1758. I |

f Pascoe G.

John Grenfell = Eliz. Pollard. j

| Pascoe G.

George Grenfell = Johanna Rowe.

George Grenfell,
the Explorer.

4 Wanted a Morsel’

Though Grenfell left Sancreed in infancy, and
probably before any lasting impressions were made
upon his mind, he renewed his acquaintance with his
birthplace while still a child, and ‘Beacon Hill/ which
fronted Ennis Cottage and Trannack Mill, was ever a
well-loved feature in his mental landscape.

In 1856 we find him making a long stay at the Mill,
and two letters addressed by his grandfather to his
parents in Birmingham afford interesting glimpses of
his life at the age of seven years. The writer says,
under date May 6, ‘ George was poorly last week and
did not go to school, but went yesterday. To-day it
rains much, so he must not go. Grandmother is very
careful of her George, and would not consent to his
being polled \i.e. having his hair cut], but I intend to
get it done on Thursday if the weather will let us go
to Penzance.’

Then follows a story of how George went with his
grandfather in search of strayed bullocks on the
previous evening, being sometimes carried pick-a-back.
In the course of the journey he ‘wanted a morsel/ and
was promised refreshment when they got to Sellan,
which soothed his trouble. As they entered Sellan a
certain kindly Peggy Waters met them, kissed George
and fed him. Upon returning to Trannack Mill they
found the bullocks safe at home.

As one reads this artless account of an early
expedition, one wonders whether in greater quests of
later years it recurred to the memory of the traveller,
and whether, when at times he lay down hungry in the
African wilds, he dreamed of Peggy Waters and her
kiss and her loaf. The letter adds the information that
‘ he has plenty of playmates, plenty of playthings, and
money too, of which he is proud.’

Early Years

A second letter, dated June 2, states that ‘Grand-
mother/ though suffering much with rheumatism, made
the journey to Penzance on Thursdays, and that George
always accompanied his grandparents. Then follows an
account of a childish exploit. The previous Friday was
4 a day of rejoicing/ and George and his grandfather
saw 4 the fixtures ’ being put up in preparation 4 for the
children and others to take tea.’ For some reason
George was unable to attend the feast ; but his grand-
father writes that he 4 was very willing to stay at home,
and went out into the garden and fixed up poles to
make a booth, and trimmed them off with greens and
flowers. He did it all by himself. Indeed, I knew
nothing of it until it was almost finished. So we
took tea in the garden very comfortably.’ It would
be interesting, if it were possible, to compute how many
poles George fixed up in the following fifty years to
provide shelter under which the bodies and souls of men
might find rest and refreshment.

At this time he was rid of his cough, but had a
remainder of cold which caused deafness. His grand-
father gives some quaint hints of treatment, requests
his parents’ 4 thoughts about it ’ ; and adds, what they
would be pleased to hear, and what is still interesting
to read, that 4 he is very brisk and lively, goes to school
regularly, and is very fond of it, is growing finely, has a
great red face, and is made much of by his schoolmaster
and playmates.’

The story of this visit to Sancreed ends sadly.
George’s mother had come down from Birmingham to
fetch her boy home. While she was on a visit to her
sister at Sithney, near Helston, her father died suddenly,
and she was hastily recalled to the house of mourning.
Whether George was at Trannack Mill at this time, or

GRENFELL, Aged 19. IN MIDDLE LIFE. AS A YOUTH.

Photos : T. Lewis, Birmingham.

GRENFELL’S BIRTHPLACE AT SANCREED, NEAR PENZANCE.
Photo : Mr. Charles Stewart, Penzance.

The Doctor’s Discernment 9

at Sithney with his mother, cannot now be determined ;
but in any case, the loss of his genial grandfather,
whose love for him was sufficiently evident, and who
‘ was an upright man and well thought of,’ would be a
real grief to his child heart. His grandmother lived
twenty years longer, and attained the age of eighty-two.

Grenfell’s grandfather was pleased with his school
work at Sancreed, and later, in Birmingham, his
intelligence was well-esteemed by his masters and
schoolfellows. But apparently there was a dull period
in which his progress in learning was so slow that his
mother’s mind was perturbed. Two years subsequent
to the Sancreed visit he was ailing. Perhaps the illness
accounted for his dulness.

Two doctors met in consultation. One of them
ventured the opinion that he had a fine head. His
mother lamented his backwardness, and was asked,
* How old is he ? ’

* Nine years to-day,’ was the reply. Whereupon the
doctor said to the boy, ‘ If you don’t get on, it won’t be
for want of a head.’ This was one of those chance
words which a fond mother hid in her heart ; and the
story was often told by her in later years, when the
doctor’s discernment had been sufficiently vindicated,

It was probably a year or two later than this that
George Grenfell entered the Baptist Sunday School at
Heneage Street, perhaps the most momentous act and
fact of his life.

Heneage Street Baptist Church, Birmingham, was
founded in 1842, and was then suburban, but the
extension of the city has involved changed conditions.
The Church has now to sustain a ministry in a difficult
district, and like other Churches similarly placed has
been called upon to endure the loss of wealthy and able

ro Early Years

supporters who have migrated to fairer scenes. Happily
it retains the affectionate and devoted interest of a
few strong men who were nurtured within its borders
and cannot find it in their hearts to forsake the old
home.

Heneage Street was George Grenfell’s spiritual
home, and he loved it to the end. Every scrap of
Heneage Street news was ever welcome. His letters
teem with references and inquiries. The joys of
Heneage Street are his joys ; its sorrows are his
sorrows ; and from the wilds of Africa his heart returns
to the dear sanctuary with longing akin to that which
the exiled Jew experienced for Zion.

At a public meeting, occasioned by the unveiling
of a Grenfell memorial tablet in Heneage Street
Church, to which other reference has been made, one
of Grenfell’s oldest friends stated that he appeared as
quite a boy in the Sunday School, but that the cir-
cumstances of his coming were unknown. Since then
the facts have been disclosed. His people belonging
to the Church of England, he and a younger brother
attended St. Matthew’s Sunday School. But at St.
Matthew’s was a bigger boy who bullied and oppressed
the younger brother, and to escape this annoyance,
doubtless with his parents’ approval, Grenfell and his
brother joined the School at Heneage Street.

Among the influences of Heneage Street that went
to the making of Grenfell’s character, his boy friends,
in whom he was singularly fortunate, must take an
important place. Foremost among these was Joseph
Hawkes, who remained his close and confidential friend
until his life’s end, and who has further proved the
stability of his friendship by wise and sympathetic care
for the interests of those dear ones whom Grenfell left

A Lively Reminiscence n

behind. Joseph Hawkes was his school-fellow on week-
days as well as Sundays. They both attended the Gem
Street branch of King Edward’s Grammar School. It
was a Church of England foundation, but the religious
difficulty seems to have been met in a simple, practical
fashion. During study of the Church Catechism, Non-
conformist scholars were withdrawn. Instead of the
Collect, they were expected to recite the text of the
sermon which they had heard on the Sunday morning.
There was a purely Scripture Catechism which all
studied in common, and Mr. Hawkes bears witness that
Grenfell and he and many others were indebted for a
solid grounding in Scripture knowledge to the Head-
master’s excellent teaching.

Joseph and George were great friends, but the
* course of true love ’ was not always smooth, and I am
indebted to Mr. Hawkes for a lively reminiscence which
will go to the heart of any schoolboy who dips into
these pages, and haply appeal to others whose school
days belong to a remote but unforgotten past.

One day they had a difference, and determined to
fight it out. The fight was not of the common fisticuff
order, but more in the nature of a duel. Each wore at
that time a short waterproof cape, which, being com-
pactly rolled up, formed a species of baton, not exactly
a deadly weapon, but formidable enough for schoolboy
uses. After lessons the combatants betook themselves
to the ‘ clay-pits ’ in a certain field, and having formu-
lated rules, including brief intervals for rest, they fought
with their capes for the space of one hour. As neither
confessed himself beaten, and both were reasonably
played out, the contest was declared ‘ drawn,’ and
amicable relations were resumed. There was a sequel
in the case of Joseph Hawkes. Arriving at home an

Early Years

hour and a half late, ‘ red as a lobster,’ and unable to
give a satisfactory account of himself, the episode was
rounded off for him by sound paternal chastisement.

Both boys at the time of this strenuous interlude
were about twelve years old. Some three years later
Grenfell was baptized, and received into the fellowship
of the Church on November 7, 1864, his friends Joseph
Hawkes and William Hastings taking the same
important step within some few months. These lads,
and others who went the same good way, confess their
indebtedness Lto the earnest and virile ministry of
the Rev. Samuel Chapman, who was then pastor of
Heneage Street, and subsequently exercised a long and
distinguished ministry in Australia. Mr. Chapman’s
methods were a little awe-inspiring and wanting in
surface winsomeness ; but his strength of character was
felt and appreciated by these lads, who had the stuff in
them of which men are made, as their after careers
have proved.

They loved their minister, if they were now and then
afraid of him. When one of them went to the vestry
with palpitating heart to declare his decision for Christ,
and his desire to join the Church, he was dumfounded
as the minister rose from his chair, stalked down the
room, and exclaimed in formal tones, ‘ Well, Master
William, what is the reason for the hope that is in
you ? ’

But this was just by way of preliminary testing ; and
in a few minutes the minister was sitting beside his
young friend, talking gently, and drawing out the boyish
story of trust and love.1

1 The following was written by Grenfell in reply to an inquiry as to
the circumstances of his decision for Christ and his consecration to
missionary service : ‘ My earliest religious impressions of a serious kind

Two Personalities

When he was on the point of leaving Birmingham
some three or four years later, Mr. Chapman received
a letter signed by George Grenfell, Joseph Hawkes,
William Hastings, and another, who had joined the
Church under his ministry, begging him to stay. He
confessed, when his decision was announced, that the
letter of these four young men had caused him even
greater hesitation than the formal appeal of the
Church.

In the Sunday School there were two personalities
which greatly influenced young George Grenfell and his
friends : one a man of culture and means, the other poor
and illiterate ; but which of the two was the more
dominant and moulding force it were perhaps difficult
to determine. Mr. George Cauldwell was an assistant
master at King Edward’s Grammar School, and a Bible
Class teacher at Heneage Street. He took the greatest
interest in the lads and young men of the school, and
was enthusiastic in the matter of foreign missions, a fact
that doubtless counted in the shaping of Grenfell’s
bent. The lads whom he sought to serve profited
by his instructions, respected his abilities, deferred to
his judgments, and responded to his interest with
affectionate regard.

date back to the early sixties, when the great wave of awakening that
followed the revival of ’59 was passing over the country. I was baptised
in Birmingham by the Rev. Samuel Chapman (subsequently of Melbourne,
Australia) in 1864. My interest in Africa began even earlier, being
aroused by the pictures in Livingstone’s first book, and deepened when I
was about ten years of age by the reading of the book itself. Among the
earliest of my resolves as a Christian was that of devoting myself to work
in Africa, and, though I cannpt claim that it never wavered, it was
certainly ever after my dominant idea. It was under the influence of
Mr. Saker that eventually I gave effect to the determination to be a
missionary.’ For some account of Mr. Saker, see Alfred Saker: the
Pioneer of the Cameroon#, by E. M. Saker. R.T.S., is, 6d.

Early Years

Their other friend and mentor was one James
Weston, an ironmonger’s out-door porter, who worked
for a small wage, lived in a mean lodging, knew nothing
of letters outside the Bible, and yet was a spiritual force
which counted for much in the life of Heneage Street
Church, as was gladly confessed by the minister and all
others who knew the facts. He had an extraordinary
influence over boys, and the simple explanation was
that he loved Christ and he loved them. He was a
Sunday School teacher, and could always command
a prayer meeting of forty boys after school. Some of
them loved him so much that they got up early to
walk with him to his work, or waited about that they
might return with him at night.

Grenfell was one of his special friends, and under
James Weston’s direction and inspiration he was early
inured to the life of strenuous service. I am under
obligation to Mr. William Hastings for a detailed
account of the Sunday programme observed by Grenfell
and his friends, from the age of sixteen onwards, for
three or four years, with hardly a break. The day
commenced with the seven o’clock prayer meeting,
which James Weston was very careful that they should
attend. At nine-thirty followed morning school, and
Church service. After service tracts were distributed in
assigned districts. Afternoon school commenced at
two-thirty ; and after school, and a hurried tea, a visit
was made to two outlying hamlets, Washwood Heath
and Ward End. Here, again, tracts were distributed,
people conversed with, and an open-air service held
on a piece of waste ground 1 opposite the Swan

1 Upon this piece of ground, * consecrated’ by these simple evangelistic
labours, now stands a chapel, belonging to the United Methodist Free
Church.

The Minute Book

Inn ; and it says something for the service that the
visitors at ‘The Swan/ always turned out to make
part of the congregation. The day concluded with
the evening service at Heneage Street, and a final
prayer meeting.

Grenfell did not preach in these days. He was
content with the humbler duties of visiting poor folk and
beating up an audience for his friend James Weston.
His genial, sympathetic personality made his visits
ever welcome, and in some of the cottages he was
assured of affectionate reception.

These Heneage Street young men, whose religion
was the first interest of their lives, and who knew how
to profit by the ministrations of pastors and teachers,
took themselves seriously, and believed that they were
capable of helping one another. There lies on my desk
as I write a MS. volume, having a printed inscription ;
‘ The Minute Book of the Bloomsbury Theological
Class.’ It is an interesting document, and constitutes
the record of a Society of some half a dozen young
men who met for mutual improvement by means of the
discussion of theological subjects. A preliminary meet-
ing was held at the residence of Mr. W. Hawkes,
168, Bloomsbury Street, on October 18, 1866, and was
attended by William Hawkes, John Fisher, William
Hastings, George Grenfell, and Joseph Hawkes, jun.
Mr. Fisher takes the chair for the evening, and it is
resolved that those present * do form themselves into a
class under the name of the Bloomsbury Theological
Class.’ W. Hawkes is appointed secretary. The
membership is limited to ten. Candidates for member-
ship must be unanimously elected. The entrance fee
is fixed at sixpence. And the following is determined
to be the order of procedure at meetings of the class :

1 6 Early Years

Commence at eight o’clock with election of Chairman ;
Paper by member, not to exceed twenty minutes ;
Criticism and discussion thereon ; Close with prayer at
a quarter past nine. The meetings are to be held weekly
at 1 68, Bloomsbury Street.

On Thursday, October 25, the first ordinary meeting
was held, at which all the members were present, with
the addition of George Davis, who had been nominated
at the preliminary meeting. The paper read by George
Grenfell was entitled ‘A Few Remarks on the In-
spiration of the Bible.’

At this stage the minutes are brief and formal. But
later an abstract of the evening’s paper is given, with
hints as to the trend of the discussion. In looking through
these minutes one is impressed by the punctilious order
of procedure observed by these young and independent
students, the extreme gravity and the innocent audacity
of their discussions. Their quarterly balance sheet
never deals with so great a sum as twenty shillings, but
it is 4 audited ’ by an * auditor ’ who has been appointed
by ballot ; and no theme is too august to be tackled by
them.

When the class had been in existence two years, its
rules were revised, its meetings made fortnightly, and a
programme of thirty-one subjects drawn up, covering
the whole range of Biblical and Practical Theology. But
in the construction of this programme the class seems
to have exhausted its waning energy, and within three
months it was dissolved with formalities as exact as
those which marked its institution.

Among other papers read by Grenfell was one
entitled 1 Christian Amusements,’ concerning which the
minute records : ‘ He laid it down that a Christian might
engage in that upon which he could conscientiously ask

Letter to Dr. Ullathorne 17

the blessing of God. Going into particulars, he objected
to Theatres, Concert Halls, Circuses, Fairs, Games of
Speculation, and all kinds of gambling. He saw no
harm in the games of Draughts and Chess, nor in
Soirees, Conversaziones, Penny Readings, etc., which
he thought might be made conducive to good when
properly managed.’ This reasonably conservative pro-
nouncement occasioned a discussion which had to be
adjourned ; and in the end at least two members of the
class protested against its laxity.

About this time there was some public controversy
in Birmingham concerning points of difference between
the Roman Catholic and Protestant Creeds. And the
members of the Bloomsbury Theological Class, always
taking themselves seriously, sent a letter to Dr. Ulla-
thorne, the Roman Catholic Bishop, describing their
constitution and aims, affirming their Protestant faith,
but admitting that there were matters under discussion
on which 4 we are unwilling to pass judgment until we
have given them our mature consideration.’ Such being
the case they request the Bishop to 4 appoint some one
who understands the doctrines of Roman Catholicism,
and the foundations on which they rest, to discuss with
us in a calm and friendly spirit, the points upon which
we vary in belief.’ They give little hope of conversion,
but promise 4 a fair hearing.’

There was no response, and at a subsequent meeting,
a second letter was approved, expostulating with the
Bishop for his lack of courtesy in failing to reply. This
second letter was signed by George Grenfell. Surviving
members of the 4 Class ’ sftiile at their record. But it is
one of which no man nqed be ashamed.

It was throughTthe Sunday School that George
Grenfell entered the Church, and his interest in the

18 Early Years

school never waned. Early he became a teacher, and
subsequently rendered excellent service as secretary of
the girls’ school. Fellow- workers still bear testimony to
the unfailing geniality and absolute reliability which
made service with him delightful and inspiring. While
at college he used to tell a story of his teaching ex-
perience which will probably recall kindred quaint
humiliations to the memory of many readers.

One day, surrounded by a group of small boys, he
was elate at having secured unwonted attention. Every
eye was fixed upon him, and his exhortations became the
more fervid. Suddenly he was pulled up by the excla-
mation from one of his scholars, 'Teacher, will it wash?’

Everybody who knew Grenfell will be able to imagine
the keen look, and sharp accent with which he said,
‘ Wash, wash ; will what wash ? ’

'Your new tie, teacher,’ came the answer. Alas ! it
was not his ‘doctrine,’ but his flaming bit of vanity
which had made the great impression.

For Grenfell, and two or three of his friends, the
strenuous Sunday which has been described was nowise
followed by a lax Monday. The Rev. S. Chapman was
succeeded in the pastorate of Heneage Street by the
Rev. Benwell Bird, and George Grenfell, William
Hastings, and Joseph Hawkes at one period attended
a private class at Mr. Bird’s residence on Monday
mornings at half-past six o’clock, for the study of
elementary Greek. One surmises that love for their
minister as well as zeal for knowledge incited these
young men to practise so much self-denial. Their
earnestness was beyond question, and Mr. Hastings
tells of sitting with Grenfell on the Malt-house steps
at five o’clock on summer mornings as they conned
their lessons. Grenfell was naturally affectionate and

In the Gun-Room

sympathetic, and in this regard his minister was
singularly qualified to draw out the best that was in
him, and to add to the wealth of his soul. The friend-
ship formed in those days lasted until it was broken by
the hand of death. But the golden bond will be welded
again in the glow of the life beyond.

The early hour of the Monday morning class was, of
course, necessitated by the business engagements of the
students. On leaving school Grenfell was apprenticed
to Messrs. Scholefield and Goodman, a firm of merchants
who dealt in hardware and machinery. In their shops
and warehouses he acquired commercial and mechanical
knowledge which proved of immense value in his sub-
sequent career. His diligence and aptitude secured the
confidence of his employers, and while still but a senior
apprentice he was placed in responsible charge of the
gun-room, where it was his business to examine and
pass for export guns sent in by makers. If defect was
discovered he was authorized to return the faulty gun,
but he took such pleasure in the delicate mechanical
work involved, that repairs and readjustments were
often effected by his own hands. So testifies his friend
Mr. Joseph Hawkes, who spent many hours with him in
the gun-room, discussing missionary work, the subject
in chief which stirred their ambition and shaped their
dreams. At this time David Livingstone and Alfred
Saker were Grenfell’s heroes. He read with avidity all
that was published concerning them and their work,
and his heart was more and more drawn out to Africa,
for which he was destined to live and die.

I am indebted to Mr. Alfred Caulkin for the following
account of the formation of ‘The Birmingham Young
Men’s Baptist Missionary Society,’ in which Grenfell was
ardently concerned : 1 In the autumn of 1871, the Rev.

Early Years

Goolzar Shah, a native of Bengal, visited Birmingham
as deputation to the Annual Meetings of the Birming-
ham Auxiliary of the Baptist Missionary Society. His
advocacy of the importance of the better education of
the sons of native Christians made a great impression
upon the various meetings at which he spoke. With a
view to giving practical effect to this object a meeting
of young men was held on the 5th October, 1871, under
the presidency of the late Mr. J. S. Wright. At this
meeting it was resolved that an association of young
men be formed, to create a deeper and wider interest
in Foreign Missions and to increase the support which
this town now affords to the Baptist Missionary Society.
This end was to be secured —

(1) by subscriptions amongst its members;

(2) by quarterly meetings of its members ;

(3) by Sunday School addresses ;

(4) by a quarterly publication ;

(5) by an annual meeting.

‘It was also resolved that the first efforts of the
society should be made towards providing Christian
Education for youths in India.

‘ It is interesting to note that among the speakers at
the first annual meeting were the Rev. Charles Vince,
the Rev. Benwell Bird, and Mr. J. S. Wright. George
Grenfell was one of the young men who took an active
interest in the formation of the society. He was
appointed Editor of its magazine, Mission Work , which
he most ably conducted. He was on its list of speakers
giving periodic addresses on Missionary topics in the
various Sunday Schools, and it was in connection with
the work of the Society that his desire for Missionary
work was fostered and matured. Many of his closest
friends were among its members, and he was at various

The Quarterly Magazine

times helped by gifts they sent out to him of lathe
and tools and other things useful for his very varied
work.’

The first two numbers of the Quarterly magazine,
Mission Work , which Grenfell edited, have reached me,
and they do him no small credit. A paragraph from
the first article, ‘Our Raison d’etre,’ will intimate the
tone and quality of the stuff he purposed to purvey, and
may be read with profit still.

‘ With one or two exceptions, missionary periodicals
confine their reports exclusively to the labours of the
particular society with which they are identified, but we
propose to adopt a different course. The publications
of all the Societies will be searched, and those facts
which are of the most general interest, and of the
greatest importance, will be transferred to our own
columns. At present, as a matter of necessity, if not of
convenience, Missionary labourers are divided into party
sections ; but the success of any one mission is God’s
blessing for all mankind, and should be used as a
Divine encouragement to all workers in all parts of the
world. There is no single society which is strong
enough, and rich enough in resources, to occupy the
whole field ; but that is no reason why its supporters
should not be wise enough to gather materials for
thankfulness and stimulus from every region. No
matter by whom or where the Gospel is preached, every
one of its victories should be gratefully received by all
the Churches in Christendom for the sustenance of their
common faith in God, and their common love to Him
who died to redeem the human race. The “ Birmingham
Young Men’s Baptist Missionary Society ” will be able
to work in only one^ siriall sub-division of the divided
field, but its members must strive to cherish that broad

Early Years

spirit which gladly drinks in hope from every stream
of success wherewith our Lord doth refresh the waste
places of the earth. In order to promote this end,
“their own Magazine ” will, from time to time, set
before them proofs from all quarters of the globe that
the Gospel is, as of old, the power of God unto
salvation.’

It is impossible to determine with certainty, at this
date, what pages of the Magazine were written by the
Editor ; but each of the first two numbers contains an
article, signed ‘ Delta,’ which may be ascribed to
Grenfell’s pen. The first is entitled ‘ The Threepenny-
bit at the Missionary Meeting.’ The temptation to
quote extensively is strong, but a sentence or two must
suffice : ‘ There is no mistake that the threepenny-bit
may read out a salutary lesson to many of its older and
bigger brothers. . . . How seldom do we hear a hundred-
pound cheque say, “ I was glad when they said unto
me, let us go up to the house of the Lord.” If a ten-
pound note goes to a religious collection once in its life-
time it thinks it may walk in the counsel of the ungodly
all the rest of its days ; while a sovereign, putting in its
appearance with its smaller relations on the plate, excites
in the mind of the deacon an unpleasant misgiving that
somehow or other it has got on the wrong track. ... A
man with only a threepenny-bit in his pocket cannot
travel very far, and a man with only a threepenny-bit in
his mind cannot go much farther.’

The date of ‘Mission Work, No. I,’ is January, 1873.
An article, entitled ‘ Holy Week in Hayti,’ is from the
pen of the Rev. Joseph Hawkes, Baptist Missionary at
Jacmel. Grenfell’s closest friend had entered the
service he had long desired ; and it is probable that his
friend’s departure precipitated his own decision to

Obstacles Removed

become a missionary. There had been some wavering
shortly prior to this, and he had entered into business on
his own account, with a view to settlement at home.
But the call was not to be evaded, and the following
entry from the Heneage Street Church Minute Book
proves that the die was cast.

‘Mr. George Grenfell having made a statement
expressing his desire to devote his life to Missionary
work, it was proposed by Mr. Cockshott, seconded by
Mr. Silman, “That this church having heard from
Mr. G. Grenfell of his desire to labour among the
heathen, and having the fullest confidence in his moral
character, and in his fitness for the work, most cordially
commends him to the Collegiate committee of the
Midland Baptist Association, with the view of his being
sent to one of the Colleges in order to be prepared for
Missionary work.” ’

There ensued delays which meant trial for Grenfell’s
ardent soul, and Mr. Bird recalls that during this period
he preached one Sunday morning on the text, ‘Wait
on the Lord and keep His way.’ After the service
Grenfell came to the vestry and expressed gratitude
for the message, which was a word from God to him
in circumstances which called for patience and the
steadfast discharge of present duty.

His patience was rewarded in God’s due time.
Obstacles were removed. Business was relinquished,
in spite of hopeful prospects ; and in September, 1873,
Grenfell was received at Bristol College as a proba-
tionary student.

CHAPTER II

COLLEGE DAYS

The Baptist College, Bristol — Stokes Croft in Grenfell’s Day—
The College Traditions — Dr. Gotch and his Methods—
The Rev. J. G. Greenhough — College Life and Ex-
periences Described— Robert Hall’s Oddities— Accepted as
Full Student — Thoughts of Africa— Dr. Underhill’s Letter — Pos-
sible Call — Recreation — The Rev. H. C. Bailey’s Recollections —
‘A Near Thing’ — The Summons — Letter from Mr. Saker —
Accepted for the Cameroons — Preparations — Designation
Service — Saker and the Slave-trade — Liverpool Experiences —
Personal Recollections— Grenfell at College— And Thirty Years
Later.

HE Baptist College, Bristol, which Grenfell entered

A in September, 1873, stands in Stokes Croft. The
name of its location is suggestive of rural quiet. And
indeed at the time of its erection the present grim and
venerable building would be more in the country than in
the town. It was then remotely suburban, and students,
dwelling in an atmosphere of academic stillness, could
walk out to meditate in the fields, which swept up in
green undulations to the walls of their home of learning.

Time and progress have altered that. Stokes Croft
is a roaring city street, and the present-day student,
who wishes to meditate in the fields without loss of
time, will catch the electric tram, which clangs its bell
at his door, and be whirled away through miles of
bricks and mortar before the green, quiet spaces for

Stokes Croft 25

which his soul longs come into view. But the days of
the old place are already numbered.

In 1873 Stokes Croft, though far from being rural,
was still suburban. The noise of traffic was less con-
tinuous, the surrounding greenery was ampler and less
smoke-blighted, and the fields were still not far. The
gaunt, rectangular stone building was as it is, and often
elicited from passing strangers unflattering inquiries as
to its character and uses. (It is an old tradition that
the architect was expert in gaol-building.) But the life
within was bright and buoyant, perhaps to a fault, and
many men, to the end of their course, will remember
Bristol College with wistful gratitude, and will see its
heavy frowning walls touched with beauty by the toned
lights of dear days that are dead.

The College has great traditions. The names of
Andrew Gifford, Dr. Ryland, John Foster, and Robert
Hall lend lustre to its annals. Its library and museum
contain treasures of unique interest and inestimable value.
In 1873 the Principal, the Rev. F. W. Gotch, LL.D.,
was one of the greatest living Biblical scholars, and was
engaged with others at that time upon the revision of
the Old Testament. His methods in the lecture-room
were unconventional, and in the technique of teaching
he might easily have been surpassed. But he possessed
a mind of great breadth and refinement, commanded
the respect of all his students, won the reverent affection
of many, and went far to create an atmosphere favour-
able to mental and spiritual growth. Gentle, genial,
indulgent, he yet carried himself with a calm, old-world
dignity which discouraged the taking of liberties, and
precluded the thought of rebellion. Possibly he may
have been a little too tolerant of the ‘high spirits’
of some of the young men committed to his charge.

26 College Days

But his rule was more successful than that of many a
martinet.

Old students of Grenfell’s time will well remember
how at the commencement of each session, when fresh-
men were present, ‘the Doctor* gravely produced a
little code of ‘Rules of the House’ and read them
through, adding brief words to this effect: ‘Now you
have heard the rules, and I shall trust you to keep
them. I do not expect to have to look after you as
schoolboys. I shall assume that you are gentlemen
until you prove the contrary.’

Yet in certain minor matters of order Dr. Gotch
could be punctilious, and when displeased could be
severe. Upon one occasion Grenfell was subject to
sharp rebuke. The rebuke was unmerited and was
administered in mistake. Grenfell’s quick, sensitive
nature was instantly up in arms, and he talked to ‘ the
Doctor’ as perhaps no other man in the house would
have dared to do. But Dr. Gotch, who was more than
just, instantly made amends, and by the untoward
incident the mutual respect of the two men was
deepened.

There is another man, happily still with us, who
must be mentioned as exercising marked influence upon
Grenfell during his short student course. The Rev.
J. G. Greenhough, M.A., commenced his ministry at
Cotham Grove, Bristol, some few months before Gren-
fell entered College, and Mr. Greenhough’s coming to
Bristol marked an epoch in the lives of many of the
students. Later he became tutor in Logic and Church
History, but prior to his formal connection with the
College his influence was great. The men flocked to
hear the young man who was ‘ the Doctor’s ’ pastor, and
for whom ‘ the Doctor’s ’ admiration was neither silent

HENEAGE STREET BAPTIST CHURCH, BIRMINGHAM.
Inset — Grenfell Memorial Tablet in Heneage Street Church.
Photos : T. Lewis, Birmingham.

BAPTIST

STOKES CROFT, BRISTOL.
. H. Midwinter & Co.

The Limp of Vulcan

nor stinted ; and hearing him they heard a voice that
was not an echo, and craved for more. Evangelical,
devout, modern, original, full of surprises, placing old
truth in new light, tender, consolatory, and at times
ruthless in sarcasm, Mr. Greenhough’s sermons held
many of his hearers spell-bound. His English always
virile, often exquisite, never high-flown, had singular
fascination for men who were striving for mastery in
the use of their own tongue.

For Grenfell and fellow-students who were sympa-
thetic, those Sundays in Cotham Grove were never to
be forgotten. Writing long years after to Mrs.
Greenhough, acknowledging the receipt of a volume
of her husband’s sermons, Grenfell remarks that as he
reads with delight he can hear them delivered in the old
Cotham Grove manner. That manner was distinctive,
but open to criticism. Mr. Greenhough was careless of
the graces of elocution. To enthusiastic disciples, how-
ever, the foibles of the teacher were dear as other men’s
excellences, and sure to be repeated. More than one
Bristol student has felt himself flattered by being told
that he reminded a hearer of Mr. Greenhough ; not
reflecting that ‘ it is one thing to mimic the limp of
Vulcan, another to forge the shield of Achilles.’

Grenfell’s earlier College experiences were not
entirely happy, and in this he was not peculiar. The
custom of mildly ‘ ragging ’ freshmen obtained, and his
earnest soul and sensitive nature revolted against what
struck him as frivolous and unseemly boyishness. An
accidental circumstance may have accentuated the
trouble in his case. The men of each year, according
to College custom, constituted themselves a kind of
informal society in th$ house, and held together for
pleasure or for pain. The men of the previous year,

College Days

who were ‘ Second year ’ men when Grenfell entered,
numbered six. But for the first half of the session
Grenfell’s ‘ year * included only himself and another
freshman. In their tribulations, therefore, they lacked
the force of numbers for offering resistance and making
reprisals. However, it was soon manifest to himself
and others that Grenfell was well able to take care
of himself ; the soreness wore away, and he quickly
attained to good-fellowship with all the men in the
house who were worthy of his friendship or his steel.

In the following extracts from a series of letters
addressed to his friend Mr. Thomas Lewis, of Birmingham,
the reader will be glad to find glimpses of Grenfell’s
College life and phases of his experience conveyed in
his own words.

‘ September 27, 1873. You ask me to tell you all
about College life. Well, I have not time to write
a book, but my experience would fill one. First the
men, seventeen of us, some of all sorts : two or three
scholars, two or three wits, but the majority — well,
I don’t know whether Christian charity will permit
a definite expression. They are mostly my juniors
in years, but my seniors in learning, and with that
patronizing air that is so objectionable, two or three
have aroused my ire. Freshmen are for the nonce
the subjects of general tirades. One or two I have
shut up by dropping on them heavily, and showing
them I would not be fooled. ... I have really got
angry three times, but each time it was righteous anger,
and the showing of my teeth proved to be judicious,
for three fellows have stopped their boyish tricks.’

There follows the story of a quaint but extremely
annoying bit of mischief, and then occurs this sentence :
‘ There’s a boyishness about many of the fellows I

Robert Hall

can’t do with. When they pass you, they must pinch
and catch hold of you, and that’s another of the
things I have stopped as regards myself. . . . The
place is fraught with queer stories. Every study has
its legend and peculiar history. Their several doors
still testify to the sieges they have stood.

* Robert Hall’s oddities afford themes for many yarns
of which the fellows are very fond. Opposite the College
used to stand “ The Moon Hotel.” Its sign, after the
wont of signs of the times, used to “hang out” and
swing in the wind. It wanted oiling, and thus terribly
annoyed Robert Hall. One night he got a ladder and
took it down. A student was suspected. Proprietor
comes across. Inquiry is instituted before the assembled
house. No one knows anything. Then it is discovered
that Hall is not present. Suspicion points to him.
Inquiries are made at his study door, which is found
to be locked. No answer. The Tutor makes appeal,
and after a time elicits from the inmate of the study :
“ A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a
sign ; and there shall no sign be given unto it.” More
particulars about present mode of life next time. I am
comfortable. Good food, good accommodation, and a
glorious end to work for.’

‘ November 1. If you can come, the day you arrive
will make an oasis in a very weary land as regards
friendships. College chums somehow don’t get near to
one another. Perhaps we look at each other’s faults too
closely. Our number is reduced to fourteen this week,
three men having left. On Tuesday, one went to
Glasgow : yesterday one got married (so he went
“doublin’’ — forgive me). He’s bound for Jamaica on
the 17th. Another of our men is going with him for
his health. He is consumptive, and it is his only chance

College Days

of life, and that a very slender one. He is the cleverest
man in the house. . . .

‘ You ask for particulars of how I get on and spend
my time. Well, first I find staying up late easier than
getting up early, so I generally retire at one a.m., and
get up before eight in the morning. Prayers at quarter-
past eight, at which the students in rotation officiate.
Breakfast, half-past eight : Lunch, half-past eleven :
Dinner, half-past two : Tea, five : Supper, nine : Prayers,
half-past nine. No classes after dinner, or on Saturdays.
I preach my seventh sermon since I have been here,
to-morrow. On Tuesdays the students read in rotation
a sermon, which is criticized by Principal, Tutor, and
students, and a nice flaying the poor wretch gets. I
won’t be accountable for my deeds when my turn
comes.’

Then the rod falls upon the peccant men of the
‘ Second year.’ But as they have doubtless long since
atoned for their youthful foibles, they shall be spared
the re-infliction. * College life is not all plain sailing.
It has many hard lines, as well as pleasant places. But
I am glad I am here, and hope to benefit by it, as I
have no doubt I shall. Missionary enthusiasm is very
low, and the decay of mine is still predicted, as many
have entered with missionary intentions, but have
relinquished them.’1

* November 27. I’d like “ to do ” Ruskin, but
haven’t touched anything lighter than Macaulay’s

1 If the missionary enthusiasm of the College was at low ebb in
Grenfell’s day, the tide quickly turned. Subsequent to his departure for
Africa forty Bristol students have entered the mission field. Some are
rendering distinguished and heroic service to-day ; and some, being faithful
unto death, have received the crown of Life. The Bristol ‘Students’
Missionary Association,’ formed in 1878, is a vigorous and influential
auxiliary of the B.M.S.

Grind, Grind, Grind 31

Essays since I’ve been here. It’s grind, grind, grind.
Last week I hadn’t my boots on from Sunday till
Saturday afternoon — only slippers, for I hadn’t been
out during the interval.

* My turn to be immolated does not come till after
Christmas, thank goodness. It’s a wretched business.
No milk of human kindness ; all knives are whetted for
the occasion, and no quarter. The Doctor’s criticism
lasts from half to one hour, and pretty scathing it is.

'On Sunday last Woolley and I rode twelve miles
out to a little chapel in the Mendip Hills to take two
services, and a glorious day we had. The weather was
fine, and in the afternoon we went up one of the hills
and had a magnificent view of sea and land. He
preached in the morning : I at night.’

'December 12. Iam happy to tell you I shall soon
be in Birmingham. All being well I shall arrive on
Friday next by the train due at 6.40. Woolley (a
Graham Street man in our house) comes with me.
After a little agitation we have had our holidays
lengthened so as to have three weeks clear.

'My probationary period is now concluded, and
yesterday at a general Committee meeting, I was
accepted a full student.

‘After our return our numbers will be increased
by three, one a “ canny Scot,” late of Knight’s (of prayer
notoriety) Congregation, Dundee.

‘ I’m very busy just now grinding up the first three
chapters of Butler’s Analogy, second part, for an
examination on Friday next, the morning of the last
day before Xmas holidays. An hour’s work this
evening will finish all the routine lessons for next week
and leave every hour, except class hours, disengaged
for Butler. It’s stiff sort of stuff to get up. I’m trying

3 2

College Days

to memorize, but forty pages will be too much verbatim
I fancy, as I have only done about four yet, and got
a fair general notion of the first chapter.

‘On Sunday I commence the duties of monitor for
the week, which involves my getting up, ringing the
prayer bell, and marking attendance at prayers ; and
if any funerals come in, I shall have to officiate. It’s
trying sort of weather just now.

‘ Last week two of our men tried to frighten me by
dressing a dummy, and fixing it in my bedroom. I
sewed their night-shirt sleeves up, and had the laugh at
them at breakfast.

‘ It is drawing so near to Xmas that we are getting
disorganized, and if it were not for the exam, there
would be very little work done till after the holidays.
Anxiety to get away is becoming universal, and the
time table is studied with greater avidity than the
Classics. I’m rather glad I’m not preaching to-morrow
under the circumstances. I had two services last week.i

‘I shall be glad to see you again. If you can’t
manage to meet me when I arrive, you will be sure to
see me at Heneage Street on Sunday.1

‘January 20, 1874. I am sticking closer to work
this half than I did last and hope to accomplish more,
but it is wonderful what a lot of time it takes to get
over the ground. . . .

‘ I am looking forward to seeing you soon, it seems
such an age since Christmas, which has sunk into the
very far past already ; and to think it is not a fortnight
since I saw you appears an absurdity. My whole
holiday seems to have very little more reality than
many a dream that has left its impression to linger for a
while. As tales that are told so pass our days, and I am

A Touch of the ‘Blues’ 33

disgusted at their apparent fruitlessness. Here have
I lived in the world these four and twenty years, and
have not yet begun to do, only to prepare ; and I’ve
always been “ going” to do. I wonder if my life will
be as resultless in the future as it has been in the past ;
if this “ getting ready ” is to be the chronic condition
of my being ?

‘You’ll say I’ve got the “Blues.” Perhaps a touch.
One spends many a quiet hour “here and can’t help
thinking at times, and to look forward so far without
a definite outline of the course of events presenting
itself is not altogether soothing to one blessed with my
impatience.

‘ I’m ashamed of my letter now I’ve finished it,
when I consider its grumbling tones and then consider
the grandness of the work to which I aspire. I can’t
expect to forge the weapons for so great a fight in a
hurry. If I do I must not expect them to wear.’

The following letter dated February n, from Dr.
Underhill, Secretary of the Baptist Missionary Society,
shows that Grenfell had offered himself to the Com-
mittee for service in Africa.

‘ It is with pleasure that I reply to your note. Of
course I cannot say confidently how we may be situated
at a time yet future ; but there is no doubt that we
must look for a new man for Africa. Indeed, we are
waiting chiefly to see Mr. Saker before we move in the
matter, and he is expected to arrive very shortly.

‘ He is now so worn and weary that we must ere
long give him the help he so greatly needs, and this
can be best arranged in conference with him. I hope,
therefore, that in the course of two or three months
the Committee will be able definitely to fix on their
course. There is no reason That I know of why you

College Days

should not undertake the service when the time comes.
Let us seek for Divine guidance in this, and to God’s
grace I commend you.’

Grenfell’s reply was as follows : —

‘Your kind letter of the nth instant contained
very welcome information respecting a probable open-
ing in a sphere of labour I should indeed be very happy
to fill.

‘ I have placed your letter before Dr. Gotch and
he has promised his ready sanction to any steps it
may be necessary for me to take in the matter of
placing myself at the disposal of the Missionary
Committee with regard to the Cameroons Mission.’

Respecting these letters Grenfell remarked, ‘Of
course all this is tentative. It may or may not be.
If it is God’s Will, I go — if not, I’m content to be
disappointed.’

In May he wrote to his friend —

‘ Dr. Gotch has been talking to Dr. Underhill about
me during the last two visits he has made to London.
And the last I heard was that I might expect to go
when the hot weather has passed. Of course nothing
is definite (catch the Baptist Missionary Committee
doing anything of a definite character!). It seems to
me that all depends upon Saker.

‘All being well, I shall be in Birmingham for the
vacation in less than five weeks, and I shall truly
rejoice if I don’t come back again, but have to clap
my glad wings and fly away to Afric’s sunny foun-
tains. The great responsibility, however, of under-
taking the work sometimes weighs very heavily upon
me, and I wish myself a better, stronger, and abler
man ; but if it’s God’s Will, I shall go, and shall have
strength even as my day.’

Along1 the Quays

It was not quite all ‘ grind, grind, grind ’ at Bristol
College, and even for so serious a student as Grenfell
there were hours of recreation, some grave and some
less grave. The following paragraph from a letter
written by his fellow-student, the Rev. H. C, Bailey, of
St. Austell, is valuable alike for its reminiscence and
appreciation.

‘Grenfell and I entered College together in September,
1873, just we two. Hawker, Baillie and Voice came in
at Christmas following. . . . Grenfell and I spent the
Saturday afternoons together down by the river-side,
along the quays and Cumberland Basin. He always
preferred this walk, and took the greatest interest in
the ships — their various freights, ports of sailing, rig,
methods of loading and discharge.

‘ He was not a student in the ordinary sense of the
word. Preparation for Class was tedious and irksome
to him, although he always conscientiously did his work.
His genius was more of the practical and executive
kind — great taste for mechanics. We all used to say
that he would have made a first-rate engineer. We
often talked about Africa. Alfred Saker next to
Livingstone was his hero, and I have no doubt that the
character and work of Saker had a great deal to do in
kindling his missionary enthusiasm and shaping his
missionary ideals.’

Anent his recreations I may here insert a personal
reminiscence. One afternoon Grenfell, another student
and I, took a boat at Bristol Bridge intending to row to
Hanham, three or four miles up the river. Shortly
after starting, and a little on the home side of St.
Philip’s Bridge, where stone walls rise sheer from the
thick, stagnant water, we narrowly escaped disaster. I
was steering. The second man was small and light of

College Days

weight. Grenfell was pulling mischievously hard, and
the other was doing all he knew to keep things even.
The rowing was wild, and inauspiciously our friend
dropped his oar upon a floating island of rubbish,
and pulled. The oar flashed through the unresisting
air, and the rower was instantly upon his back at
the bottom of the boat, counting only as ballast.
Meanwhile Grenfell had a big grip of the water, and
the side of the boat sank to his stroke. I used my
little weight for all that it was worth, and we managed
to right ourselves. But it was a near thing ; and as we
looked at the muddy water and at those slimy and
forbidding walls, we were not a little thankful that we
had escaped capsizing. My gratitude was revived a few
months ago, when I read in the newspaper of a sailor
and his sweetheart who were drowned at the same spot,
possibly the victims of a kindred mishap. There was
no more wild rowing for us that day.

Grenfell did return to College after the vacation, but
his stay was brief. On October i, he writes from the
College to his friend Mills, who had lately settled at
Blisworth —

‘ Here’s news — -Copy of letter from Saker —

“My Dear Brother,

“Your note of the 28th inst. has been for-
warded to me and I haste to send a line.

“ I have been somewhat concerned about fixing the
time of my return to Africa. A continued weakness
has made me hesitate. I dread meeting a winter
here, and besides, the Mission in Africa needs my
presence. So I hope to make arrangements soon
and will write to you. As preparatory to your
going the Committee will want interviews with you,

Accepted for Service

and all will depend on the result of such interviews,
which I am confident will be favourable. For myself,
I have been looking forward to the day of embarking
with you for Africa with much satisfaction — seeing in
this the providential arrangement of our Heavenly
Father for sustaining the work which I fear I must
soon leave. By a note from Dr. Underhill this
morning I learn that on returning from Newcastle
he will open correspondence with you : and if possible
I will meet you in London. In a few days I leave
for Scotland, and on my return will write, unless I
meet you in London or Chatham.”

* I think you’ll agree with me in saying the foregoing
is encouraging. The Committee have settled all about
Saker, and have passed the following resolution : “ That
a suitable person be engaged to go with Mr. Saker, and
that Mr. Saker be requested to accompany the said
young man to introduce him into the work.”

‘I shall be very glad when it is all settled, and
altho’ I know God’s Hand is in it all, even the
delays, I am apt to get impatient. Poor mortality ! *

Shortly after (November io, 1874) Grenfell was
definitely accepted for service at the Cameroons, by
the Committee of the Baptist Missionary Society, and
there ensued some weeks of going to and fro, paying
farewell visits, and securing the necessary outfit.

On November 18 he writes again to Mr. Thomas
Lewis : ‘ I’m glad it’s all settled, all except the date,
which Saker says may be the 28th inst. I’m busy
packing and getting my outfit ready, and am nearly
off my head on account of the stupidity of men in
general and some in particular. It seems as tho’
there were an evil spirit presiding over packing and
getting ready, whiciT insinuates all sorts of obstacles

3«

College Days

and delays. For instance, Shoemaker, after delay of
some few days informs me he can only execute part
(the best) of my order ; I’ve to arrange with some one
else for the remainder. The maker of my sham visual
organs says the annealing process is such that I must
not expect my extra half-dozen for the present. He
will use all speed, but cannot promise definitely — and
so on, and so on.

i There is to be a sort of designation service at
Bristol some time next week I think, and I believe a
meeting of some kind will be enlivened by sending-off
proceedings on my part in dingy old Birmingham ere
I leave. I wish I could get off quietly, and get back
again ere they make any fuss.

‘You may perhaps remember the name of “ Coats,’*
Paisley. Mr. Coats has shown his appreciation of Saker
by presenting to the Mission for his use, as long as he
requires it, a steamer for the Cameroons river. It is
being built on the Clyde, is 45 feet long, 1 1 foot beam,
draws two feet of water, accommodation for six men.
I’ve seen the plans. She’s quite a nice looking paddle
boat. We expect to start for a three months’ trip up
the river in about a month after we get out. The
passage is known to be clear for 100 miles. I am
taking out wheat and a mill to grind it. Nearly all
food has to come from Europe. I can’t help feeling
“a bit strange like ” upon the eve of so great a
change.

* I have been running about a good deal lately.
First to Essex, then to London, then two days with
Saker at Chatham, then a day in London, then a
week in Bristol, now home, and the future presents
prospective visits to Bristol, London, Liverpool, and
then— ’

The Hero of his Dreams 39

Later still he speaks with warm gratitude of the
kindness of Mr. Wathen, of Bristol, and the friends at
Heneage Street, who have made him valuable presents
of books and instruments that will be useful to him in
his future work.

On December 3 the Designation Service was held
in Broadmead Chapel, Bristol. Alfred Saker was the
chief speaker. He gave a vivid account of the sphere
of Grenfell’s future work, the degradation of the people,
the success of the Mission, and the demonstration
it afforded of the capacity of a degraded people to
receive, and profit by, the elevating influences of the
Gospel. I have an intense remembrance of the passion
that shook him as he spoke of the former abominations
of the slave-trade, and answered the scorn of those who
regarded the negroes as hopelessly brutal, by a scathing
sentence to this effect: ‘You have treated them for
generations as brutes, and now complain that they are
less than men.’ It was prior to this service that I
shared the privilege of my fellow students in meeting
Saker in the College Hall. His physique was frail
beyond telling, almost ghostly. But when he spoke one
realized that every fibre of him was steel surcharged
with magnetism. As he discoursed informally to a
group of us, beside the fire, of the things that were
most upon his heart, Grenfell stood near him, drinking
in every word, with the happy absorption of a man who
is in close and friendly touch with the hero of his
dreams.

On the evening of December 18 Grenfell finds
himself in Liverpool, alone, and not in high spirits.
His Liverpool friends will not take too seriously
the uncomplimentary Reference to their noble city.
Conditions must be considered. His harassing business

College Days

is done ; his farewells have been said ; and after the
manner of Englishmen he veils his heartache by a
lightness of tone that deceives nobody.

The following letter, dated Liverpool, December 1 8,
1874, was written to one of his best-loved College
friends, the Rev. J. M. Gwynne Owen, now of
Birmingham.

1 Liverpool is the dirtiest hole at the present minute
that I have ever had the misfortune to set foot in. I’ve
been in a mess before, but never in such a mess. “ Over
shoe-tops ” that’s nothing ; an expression altogether
lacking in force to describe the quantity of mud, slush,
&c. I’ve to go to Hugh Stowell Brown’s to breakfast,
and however the “ boots ” will get my boots into pre-
sentation form, and however the united efforts of the
combined staff of Laurence’s Hotel, Clayton Square, of
this city, will ever manage to disengage the tremendous
aggregation of superfluous matter now adhering to my
“ bags,” is a matter I fear to speculate upon.

‘I’ve been on board the S.S. “Loanda” — I’ve also
heard of Babel, and if Babel was half as badly be-
muddled as the “ Loanda,” I’m not surprised they were
unable to report progress, and eventually gave it up as a
bad job.

‘ Pigs, sheep, turkeys, geese, ducks, and cocks and
hens evidently did not take kindly to the new and very
close quarters, and made known their disapprobation in
an unmistakable manner. I sought peace below deck,
and thought to find it in the saloon, but there was “ no
peace.” It shared the general confusion, and I can
assure you the packing-boxes and turmoil did not at
all harmonize with the gilding, and the ease which the
couches suggested. I left the scene and sought out my
Noah’s arks, coffins, etc. (fourteen in all). My opinion

Personal Reminiscences 41

is that Noah’s ark was not half as much knocked about
by the deluge, or Joseph’s coffin in transit from Egypt
to Canaan.

* I stayed a couple of hours with Mills on Tuesday.
He is grateful for one of your characteristic letters, as I
shall ever be upon the receipt of such.

* I’m here alone, came alone, and feel lonely. The
grim reality (and fever is only one of the grim realities)
is opening up. I expected company from Birmingham.
But perhaps ’tis better as it is. I’m glad I’ve said
“ Good-bye ” all round ; it’s a hard task accomplished.

‘ And now, my dear old fellow, “ Good-bye ” again
to you, and don’t forget Yours (prospectively drinking
of Africa’s sunny fountains), GEORGE GRENFELL.’

I conclude this chapter with some personal reminis-
cences taken from an article written for The Baptist
Times , when I was unaware that the task of preparing
Grenfell’s biography would be assigned to me : —

‘ Grenfell and I were in the same year, though he
was very considerably my senior. I looked up to him
with a great deal of respect, and loved him right away.
Everybody loved him. He was strong as a lion, gentle
as a woman, intensely sympathetic, and absolutely
devoted. There were missionary students who changed
their minds. Grenfell’s mind was fixed. Africa was in
his brain and upon his heart ; and in our little prayer
meetings of “ the year ” his fervour expressed itself in
passionate intercession. He was extremely modest in
his estimate of his own powers, and the brevity of
his College course precluded academic distinction. But
those who passed him fyy in examinations knew that
he was a man of fine mind as well as noble character,
and were not surprised by the magnificent capacity

College Days

which he subsequently displayed in the affairs of the
Kingdom of God.

4 He loved a joke, and could suffer one. On a day
we watched him, with unfeigned interest, pass out of the
College door, in black coat and white tie, with his service
book in his hand, to conduct the funeral of somebody
who wasn’t dead. He bore the affecting ordeal well,
but nobody was anxious to claim the honour of the
successful hoax.

4 The College session commenced in September.
Under special circumstances I entered in January, and
was, consequently, ignorant of some things well known
to others. One night Grenfell inflicted upon me a
tremendous scare. It was late. I was reading in bed.
He, half-undressed, wishing to speak with me, knocked
at my door, and came in, without his spectacles, and
short of one eye . I started up in a spasm of horror, and
when he understood its meaning he laughed right
heartily, apologized, explained that he supposed every-
body in the house knew of his loss, and congratulated
himself upon the evidently efficient manner in which
art had concealed his defect.

‘Writing of jokes, there was another memorable
episode in which he was a principal actor. Our
bedrooms were ventilated by square apertures in the
corners of the ceilings communicating with the cavity of
the roof. One day Grenfell and a fellow-student, now a
minister of distinction, who shall be nameless, got up
into the roof, laid ropes along, on either side, above the
ventilators, and dropped into each hole a pendent
string with clangorous scraps of tin and iron attached.
After midnight the ropes were pulled, and there was a
noise that might have waked the dead. The tintinna-
bulation in my room ceased suddenly, and a solid chunk

Athletic Exercises

of iron crashed down upon my trunk, making a huge
dent, which I looked at curiously a few weeks ago. If
I had been sitting on that trunk this story might never
have been written.

‘ In a few moments the corridor was lined with
sheeted and indignant ghosts, a curious spectacle in the
glimmering candle-light. When the legs of a man
appeared, dangling from a trap-door, the cry was
raised, “Put him under the pump.” But when it was
discovered that the legs belonged to Grenfell, the
proposal was not pushed.

‘As I have already remarked, Grenfell never had a
thought in College of other than Missionary work, and
was always directly preparing for the career to which he
had consecrated his life. The geographical instinct was
strong in him, and I often saw him poring over maps
and dreaming of the mysteries of the dark land whither
he was going, with its unknown multitudes of men and
women for whom Christ died.

‘ He was a man of no common brain power, but he
was also a man of his hands. His bookcases, constructed
by himself, were made to shut up as trunks, so that his
books might be transported without being disarranged.
He excelled in athletic exercises, and I recall a living
picture of him, at this moment, hanging by his hands
from a horizontal ladder, and making his way along
with tremendous reaches, which none of his fellow-
students could rival.

‘It is well known that he was a good shot, and
“death” on crocodiles and other evil beasts. I hope
the confession will involve no retrospective penalties,
when I own to having practised revolver shooting
with him, on one afternoon at least, within the quiet
precincts of the College.

College Days

4 When the day came for Grenfell’s departure, all too
soon for us, the house was strangely moved. Some of
us were standing in a little crowd in the dining-room
when he came to say “good-bye.” His manner was
quick and intense as always. But as man after man
shook hands with him, and said the word that came to
his lips, each turned away to look at a picture or out of
window. He didn’t wish the other fellows to see that
his eyes were full of tears.

1 Thirty years have passed since then, and it is now a
matter of regret to me that I saw him so infrequently in
the long interval. But when we did meet, it was upon
the old College terms. I specially remember one inter-
view during which we walked, with linked arms, up and
down a London road, talking of his experiences and
ambitions. His great idea was to throw a line of
stations across the continent, and link up with brethren
who were working in from the east. I asked him why
he was so keen upon this extended line rather than
upon consolidation nearer the base, and among other
things he said that he desired the tradition of “ God’s
white man ” to get the start of the evil tradition of the
trader.

4 At that time he had been recently decorated by the
King of the Belgians, and had worn his decoration at
some great function. I asked him pleasantly how he
felt, and his reply was, “ I felt like a barn-door with a
brass knocker.” ’

CHAPTER III

AT THE CAMEROONS

Alfred Saker— At Fernando Po— Removes to the Mainland— Grenfell
and Saker— Arrival at Cameroons— Early Impressions— Methods
employed in the Work— Some Early Notes— A School Treat—
Grenfell as a Doctor— A Vaccination Patient— Announcing a
Death— A Perilous Custom— Marriage Customs— Seizure for
Debt— Female Hardships — Grenfell and his Pupils — The
Story of Ewangi— A Grateful Patient— A Tragedy and its
Sequel— An Up-river Journey— Preaching by the Way-
Exploring Water-ways— Feminine Curiosity— Things seen on
the Journey— Happiness in the Work— Visits the Abo Towns—
‘Ebo’ Houses— Return Journey— ‘Afric’s Sunny Fountains’ —
Impressions of the Abo People— The Country and its Products—
Visit to Bethel— Domestic Woes— Life from Day to Day.

LFRED SAKER, like William Carey, was a man

l\ obviously called and equipped of God for a great
mission. Like Carey, he was of lowly origin and subject
to grave disadvantage in the matter of early education.
He was born at Borough Green, in the parish of
Wrotham, Kent, in 1814. At the age of ten he had
passed through the village school and entered the
workshop of his father, who was a wheelwright. He
exhibited great mechanical aptitude and was devoted
to study, taking special interest in geography and
astronomy. About 1830, during a stay at Sevenoaks,
he was drawn into the Baptist Chapel, one Sunday
evening, by the singing, and there and then became
the subject of a spiritual experience, which evangelical
Christians call conversion, and for which the most

At the Cameroons

sceptical man of Science would be constrained to find
some respectful designation, having regard to Saker’s
subsequent career. From the first his Christianity was
of the aggressive, evangelistic order, and he taught
and preached as opportunity permitted. Subsequently,
having married a lady like-minded, he removed to
Devonport, and secured a good position in the
Government Dockyard.

The Baptist African Mission was commenced by
men who had been carried as slaves to Jamaica, who
had found Christ in their servitude, and who, when
slavery was abolished by the British Government, felt
their hearts yearning toward their heathen brethren in
the homeland. Their first efforts were crude and ill-
supported. In 1840, the Baptist Missionary Society
took up the languishing work. The Rev. John Clarke,
a missionary in Jamaica, and Dr. Prince, a medical man,
were sent to West Africa, and settled on the Island of
Fernando Po. The story told by these two consecrated
men, during a visit to England, secured the enthusiastic
interest of Alfred Saker and his wife. They offered
themselves to the Mission, were accepted, and sailed for
Fernando Po, vid Jamaica, arriving at their destination
early in 1844.

Then began a series of labours hardly surpassed in
Missionary annals, as regards their severity and their
success. Saker’s desires had early turned toward the
mainland, and in 1845 he settled in King Akwa’s town,
on the southern bank of the Cameroons river, some
twenty miles from the sea-coast. Here, amidst appalling
degradation and rampant cruelty, this master-builder
laid the foundations of a Christian civilization. He
made bricks, built houses, reduced the language to
writing, established printing presses, compiled grammars

Veteran and Young Recruit 47

and dictionaries, translated the Scriptures into the Dualla
tongue, endured persecution, won confidence, made con-
verts, and, supported by faithful colleagues, achieved
once more the miracles of regeneration and uplifting,
possible only to men who are the organs of the Spirit of
Christ.

The story of the Spanish oppression in Fernando Po,
and the founding of the Colony of Victoria, cannot be
told here. But in this grave and difficult business Saker
exhibited practical and administrative genius of a high
order. In the sixties his work had secured the attention
and admiration of the Christian Church throughout the
world, and among his most ardent admirers was George
Grenfell, who accompanied him upon his last voyage to
Africa, and was destined to feel the weight of his burden
for a little while in the Cameroons, and then to take up
like burdens in other, wider fields.

Upon their arrival at Cameroons in January, 1875,
Saker and Grenfell, the veteran and the young recruit,
were most cordially received, and the prevailing use of
the English language enabled Grenfell to commence
educational work among the young men without delay.

On February 2, Grenfell writes to his friend Mr.
Lewis —

‘ The place here is charming, beyond all praise ; the
house is magnificently situated upon a little cliff forty-
three feet high, and commands splendid views of the
river. The heat does not trouble me, it certainly is
warm, but as I dress especially for the weather I meet
the changes of temperature upon the best terms. There
are lots of insects, but they are not troublesome — don’t
bite. I’ve seen but one mosquito, and he was in the
act of committing suicide in the butter dish. [He saw
others later, by no means tired of life.]

At the Cameroons

‘ I am getting a bit straight in my new home. We
had lots to do, the house is a very large one, and being
left in charge mainly of cockroaches and ants required
some amount of attention.

‘The Chapel, Schools, Workshops, etc., are all in the
same plot of ground as the house, and cover quite an
extensive area.

‘The people, men and women, boast only, in the
majority of cases, a loin cloth in the way of raiment.
The Christian women generally don a loose flowing
robe after the pattern of a baptizing gown, the men don
a shirt, which together with loin cloth constitutes full
dress. Some, however, have risen to the dignity of pants.

‘ Polygamy and domestic slavery obtain very ex-
tensively. The Pastor of our church here is a slave and
pays part of his salary to his master, but he might be
sold to-morrow if his master liked. He is a very good
man, not highly educated in the matter of letters, but
in Christian teaching well learned— no cant or humbug
that sometimes characterizes the negro Christian, but a
downright honest, straightforward man. This is Mr.
Saker’s opinion, endorsed by my eight days’ intercourse
with the said individual.

‘ The voyage was a very pleasant one ; the opening
part of it was rather squally, but after we left Madeira
it was very fine weather. At Sierra Leone I went
ashore (as well as at Madeira and Tenerifle), but I either
ate too many oranges or got slight fever or something
which eventually led to inflammation of the stomach.
It compelled me to resort to a slop diet for awhile ;
however, before we got to Bonny I was quite right again.

‘ My chemicals arrived in splendid condition, nothing
broken or spilled.

‘ My work here will be a very slow one, education

Getting an Education

chiefly. Teaching has to be administered in very small
doses. The way Mr. Saker has got along has been to
take boys under his charge, educate, and teach them
trades ; Mrs. Saker has taken the girls under her charge
and educated and taught them the essentials of civilized
life. The young men have done the work of carpenters,
bricklayers, boat-rowers, etc., and thus worked for their
living which Mr. Saker has provided for them, as well as
a house isolated from the town and its bad influence ;
the young women have done the domestic work, sewing,
etc., earning their board and lodging and getting an
education. From the ranks of the young we have
teachers for our children’s schools which are open to all,
free, and from the young women the young men have
been furnished with wives. We have been here only a
few days, have received lots of applications for boys
and girls brought by their parents to come and live and
learn. The girls’ school is at a standstill, and will be
till Polly comes out. The boys’ and young men’s
education is being attended to, however.

‘ My cook, a youth of about 1 6 or 17, works for a
slight fee in goods equal to about 4 d. a day, his
food (rice chiefly), and an hour and a half’s instruction
with the young men. My house boy for the advantage
of two hours’ schooling and his food (clothing very
scanty) fetches and carries all I need. The Mission is
so organized that everything goes on as usual in the
Missionary’s absence, Native pastor and teachers
officiating in everything except the Young Men’s School
for an hour and a half a day. And when the Missionary
goes away the chief of the young men go with him to
see to boat, etc. But when the Missionary is here he
takes the general oversight and preaches and teaches as
opportunities offer, which is every day.’

At the Cameroons

Among Grenfell’s * literary remains 5 is a little sheaf
of note-paper, brown, weather-worn, closely inscribed,
almost indecipherable in places, containing notes of
early impressions of the Cameroons, accounts of two
important Missionary journeys, and a diary of following
experiences. It is a roughly executed record, apparently
designed to be the basis of a book which was never
written. I proceed to give the gist of this most
interesting document, with one or two interpolations.

* Three or four days after my arrival at Bethel
Station I witnessed a scene I shall not soon forget — a
school treat given to black children. The incident was
memorable not on account of its being a treat given to
black children, but because of the elements of the treat,
boiled rice and salt beef, and the treatment the treat
received. It was not a big affair. There were not many
more than fifty children present, and these, instead of
bringing cups, brought a collection of plates, and sub-
stitutes for plates, such as I never conceived could have
been raked up by so small a company. There was the
orthodox plate, from ten inches in diameter downwards.
There were vegetable dishes, pie dishes, meat dishes
tureens and tureen covers, serving as very good sub-
stitutes for plates. There were also a collection of
calabashes — cotton-wood bowls, eighteen inches across,
after the fashion of mincing bowls — enamelled and tinned
iron bowls, and one wash-hand basin.

‘ Spoons were provided, but were soon discarded
after operations had commenced ; the majority, like
David with Saul’s armour, had not proved them. They
had had more practice with their fingers than with
spoons, and managed, by a movement which I cannot
imitate, to convert their hands into a sort of funnel
through which the rice, after they had taken it up and

Demolishing the Viands 51

thrown back their heads, ran into their mouths. Some
sat on the benches, some on the sandy floor. The
earnestness with which they set themselves to the task
of demolishing the viands, and afterwards picking the
bones, was evidenced by the speed with which the feat
was accomplished. I have little doubt that the majority
had never tasted beef before. Cups and water were
provided,’ and the observer goes on to tell of how the
girls would have spoiled their garments if they had been
clad English fashion, by ‘ the reckless manner ’ of their
drinking. But as they wore no dress beyond ‘ a waist
cloth, an ivory or brass armlet, and a necklet of beads/
it did not matter. One boy’s hybrid costume consisted
of a girl’s sand shoes and jacket, and a round black felt
hat. A distribution of sweetmeats and toys and dolls
followed the feast (only white dolls are acceptable).
‘Their curtseying for these gifts was performed in all
sorts of extraordinary fashions. After this they sang a
hymn and dispersed, carrying away on their heads their
plates, dishes, bowls, etc. Everything is carried on the
head, from a pail of water to the books that are taken
to Chapel.’

A few days later Grenfell found time for a walk with
one of the Mission people, that he might discover the
kind of town in which he had settled. He noticed
about half a dozen brick houses, the property of Mission
people who had been taught to make their own bricks.
The native houses were mainly built of split bamboo
and palm-leaf mats, raised on platforms two feet high.
Chiefs sometimes boasted houses built of boards and
raised on poles some six feet from the ground ; but
their numerous wives occupied native-built houses
adjacent ; and though each wife had her own house,
this arrangement often failed to prevent vociferous

At the Cameroon©

quarrelling. A chief may have a street to himself. ‘ One
of our big men has dubbed his street Queen Street.
His house door bears the legend —

Bonney Eyo Esquire
Pocket Brother
Queen St. Akwa Town
Capital of Cameroons.

“Pocket Brother” means that Bonney Eyo Esquire’s
brother “ Pocket ” lives there too.’

Grotesque names are borne by many of the people,
such as Pannakin, Brass Pan, Liverpool Joss, London
Bell, Talkaway. And dignitaries have their names
inscribed upon their ivory armlets, thus indicating rank,
which, in the absence of other garments than the waist-
cloth, might be unsuspected. ‘The women, like the
men, are fond of ornaments, and wear armlets, necklets,
and earrings. They have no place for brooches, but
make up for that by wearing rings on their toes.
Though I remember seeing one who was not to be
balked in the matter of brooches ; she found accom-
modation for about two dozen upon her head, almost
covering her wool, a capital medium for the pins.’

Before Grenfell had been long in Cameroons it
became known that he had brought medicines with
him, and forthwith, as physician, he was in great request.
Some cases exceeded his skill, and some were beneath
it. Even as he wrote he was called to see a man who
was too ill to leave the canoe in which he had been
brought down river. It was a case of lock-jaw. But
in many instances the amateur physician was sure that
nothing ailed his patients more serious than a morbid
craving for physic, which he satisfied with harmless pills.
In earliest days he used to mix children’s powders with

Warning the Spirit World 53

sugar ; but so many were taken, and did ‘ so much good,’
according to the parents’ version, that he shrewdly sus-
pected them of consuming the sweet morsels designed
for their suffering children.

Quaint and pitiful is the following recital : ‘ One day
a man came to me asking to be vaccinated. Having no
lymph I was unable to meet his wish. He was greatly
grieved, and went away looking very doleful. Shortly
after he returned and said : “ Can’t you cut me, so that
when I go home I may show the mark, and the people
may not witch me.” His home was Malimba, thirty or
forty miles away, and the Malimba people are very
much afraid of small-pox coming from the river. . . .
Country medicines for internal complaints are worse
than useless, and kill the majority of those who have
much to do with them.’

When death occurs, guns are fired to announce to the
spirits that another is on the way to join them. This
firing used to continue throughout the day, but is now
observed only at the time of death, and again at
sundown. * A few charges from a cannon, and half
an hour’s small gun practice, is all the warning the spirit
world gets nowadays.’

Under this modified rigime the noise, especially of
the cannon, is sufficiently distressing to European ears.
The cannon firing is curious. The unmounted gun is
laid on the ground, and discharged by means of a long
train of powder, extending from the capacious touch-hole
to the margin of a pit in which the gunner lies ensconced,
safe from mischances. Mischances are not rare. ‘During
the late war a cannon, pointed at the Mission House,
burst, and sent the fore part of the gun through the roof
of one of the trading houses, situated at right angles to
the line of fire.’

At the Cameroons

‘ In addition to the noise made by the guns upon the
occasion of death, there is also the din of musical instru-
ments to be endured. I can hear them now, and the
wailing of the women, and the cries —

‘ O spirit, come back and I won’t vex you again,

O Brother, come back, yes, that’s what we want,

The unsettled palaver we won’t mention again
Only come back, only come back.

Oh ! Oh ! Oh ! ’

If a man dies in the morning, he is buried before
night, usually under his own roof, and possibly in an
elaborately ornamented coffin, imported from England,
which he has long used as a treasure box. His personal
belongings, such as his stool, his calabash, his waist-
cloth, and drinking-cup, are first broken, that they may
not tempt a thief, and then stacked under a rude shelter
opposite his house. This wasteful custom is simply
defended as the ' country fashion,’ and prevails far down
the coast. Formerly when a great man died some of
his people were killed that he might have attendants in
the next world. More recently the custom has been
to raid a weaker tribe, and secure prisoners for sacrifice.
i But this is fast giving place. ... If a man dies from
small-pox, no gun-firing or ostentatious weeping takes
place. “ The eyes of those who weep for him will burst,”
the people say.’

4 The tender passion ’ is little understood. Wives
are bought, and the girls of a family are sold to buy
wives for the boys. The boy without a sister is matri-
monially in evil case, and has to take inferior chances.
The wife-purchase business involves frequent trouble.
One of Grenfell’s neighbours, John Akwa, paid for a
wife from Fiko town. She was not forthcoming, where-
upon, seeing her brother, he captured him, brought him

A curious Circular Net 55

home, and held him a prisoner in chains. ‘ This practice
of seizing a man or a canoe for debt of any kind is very
common, and indeed is the recognized law by which
a man recoups himself or brings about a settlement.
When a man is caught and killed, there is retaliation
at the first opportunity, and re-retaliation when a chance
occurs, and so on. Often many lives are sacrificed by
this stupid plan, and sometimes a war results.’

The women are very hardly worked. They cultivate
the farms. Grenfell saw one, whom he knew, digging
holes, for planting yams, with a heavy iron crow-bar, and
was indignant ; this woman’s husband was a ship’s
carpenter and earned good wages. But it is the
‘ country fashion.’ The crops are protected by charms.

‘ Some of the men, when trade is bad, go fishing
both with hooks and nets. Some nets are imported
from England, but only a few. Most of them are made
of native fibre twine. Other nets consist of split bamboo
laths, six feet long, half an inch wide, one-eighth in
thickness, and laced across. There is also a very
curious circular net in use here ; and when a shoal
of fish is observed, this is so thrown from the land,
that ere it reaches the water it has spread out to its
full capacity, a disc of some twelve or more feet in
diameter, and being weighted at the edges with lead,
rapidly sinks at the circumference and so encloses the
fish. The net is drawn in by a rope fixed to the centre.

* In fishing excursions up or down the river use is
made of the tide, which rises about six or eight feet
above low-water mark, thus causing a very considerable
current. The winds too are very regular, and are
depended upon with almost as much certainty as the
tides. The land breeze springs up at midnight or early
morning, and blows for awhile with considerable force ;

At the Cameroons

but by daybreak it is generally quite calm. At eight
or nine o’clock shifting breezes spring up, of no great
consequence. But, as soon as noon is passed, the sea-
breeze is looked for, and, unless there has been a tornado
or other rare disturbing cause, always comes, and gener-
ally blows with sufficient force to tip the wave, which
I’ve had great difficulty in heading, in a four-oared boat
at times. I’ve found these sea-breezes very refreshing
during my attacks of fever.’

On commencing his school Grenfell was distressed
by the dulness and laziness of some of his pupils, but
the efficiency and versatility of one of them gave him
no small comfort.

* My boy Dumbi, about twelve or thirteen years of
age, promises to be a good lad. He is clever and
industrious, and about the only genius I know in the
country. He is now engaged in making himself a
Scotch cap, having already made a shirt. He is a
successful fisherman, owns a canoe, and twists his own
fishing lines, which he prefers to the English silk lines,
so popular at home. He can climb a tree like a cat,
and go up a bamboo cane as a sailor goes up a rope. If
he sees a thing done once, he can do it himself, and has
often helped my cook with dishes he could not manage.

‘ Dumbi swims like a fish ; knows all the river creeks
and steering courses ; was taken prisoner among a
canoe’s crew during the late war, and escaped by taking
a header and long dive (it was night) and coming up out
of sight. He is very handy with carpenters’ tools, and
used, when he had time, to make model canoes, which
he sold to the steamer passengers. He has a good head,
forgets nothing he is told, and has the bump of order
well developed. You white people would be blessed if
you could get a cargo of such servants. I thought when

‘You do Him well!’

I first saw him, “ That’s the ugliest boy I have seen.”
I believe he is better looking now. Anyway I would
not part with him, looks or no looks, without a struggle.
Every Saturday afternoon he comes to me and says,
“ I want to go look my mower.” He wants to go and
see his mother. He’s a good lad : tarred the bottom of
my boat as far as the water-line yesterday.’

The account of the first journey, commenced on
May 3, is prefaced by the tragical story of Ewangi.

About three months earlier this man came down
river in a canoe and requested Grenfell to pull a
splinter out of his foot. As the splinter was nearly
three inches long and broken, the operation was not as
simple as it might have been. One-half was easily
extracted, but the deeper-seated portion required an
incision. The patient’s leg was tied to a school bench,
and his shout when he felt the knife was sufficiently
disconcerting. The excitement of the operation was
accentuated by the subsidence of the floor at the moment
of its completion. Fortunately Grenfell’s foot was
resting on a beam, and by a dexterous movement he
contrived to save himself from what might have been a
serious accident.

The second scene is laid in Dido’s town, three miles
up the river. There, on May I, Grenfell was surprised
by the affectionate demonstrations of a man who shook
him by the hand with enthusiasm, crying, ‘You do him
good, you do him well ! ’ In answer to Grenfell’s puzzled
look he pointed to his foot, and was then recognized as
the man whose leg had been tied to the school bench.
After talk of the splinter, at parting, the surgeon
remarked to his former patient in Dualla English, ‘ Ah,
you’ll carry them mark till you done die,’ little thinking
how short a time that would be. For the same evening,

At the Cameroons

on an up-river voyage, Ewangi was snatched from his
canoe by a crocodile, and seen no more. Word of the
tragedy was brought to Dido’s town. War canoes were
dispatched. One of the men who were with Ewangi in
the canoe at the time of his death, and the man off
whose beach the crocodile lay, were arrested, charged
with witchcraft and doomed to death. The latter, a
Wuri man, was duly killed. The former, a Dido man,
having influential friends, was spared. Whereupon
Wuri men, accounting themselves aggrieved, came down
in war canoes, demanding, not reparation for their
countryman’s execution, but the death of the Dido man ;
and threatening that if their demand was not complied
with they would stop all trade. ‘It no fit that Wuri
man die and Dido man not die,* was the argument as
Grenfell heard it.

This unfortunate Ewangi was a bard, whose business
it was to sing inspiriting songs, composed as he went
along, to cheer the hearts of the paddlers in canoes, and
to keep their strokes in time. He was distinguished in
his profession, and made the ‘ best play ’ of all the bards.

‘ To see a hundred or so paddles, all wet and glistening
in the sun as they are simultaneously swung in circles
at each stroke, is a sight to remember. If Ewangi was
“play” man, the crews always “pulled true” (i.e. worked
hard), and their hearts never failed them. Ewangi was
a grateful savage : grateful savages are rare. Poor
Ewangi ! ’

‘ On the night of Monday May the 3rd I started on a
journey up the river, as far as I could get, and yet be
back in time to prepare for Sunday. We passed the
scene of Ewangi’s death in the dark, or rather in the
darkness illumined by one candle, which I found when
I awoke in the morning had been kept alight all the

One vast Lagoon

way, whether to scare the crocodile, or to see him
coming I could not determine. My crew seemed to
have no clearly defined notion about it. But evidently
security and light were linked in some fashion according
to their ideas. By the time the sun was up we were
in regions that are one vast lagoon in the rainy season,
though in the dry season the banks of the river are
clearly defined. All the houses are built on raised
earth platforms as in Akwa town, but very much higher,
say from four to six feet, nearly the same height as the
house itself. The doorway, which is the only aperture,
is approached by a notched log. In consequence of the
periodical floods, and the great number of waterways,
every house has its canoe or canoes, and in the mornings
you may see the women going to their farms, up or
down the river, as the case may be. Canoes in every
state of dilapidation seem to be available. I saw one
sink ; but the woman seemed quite used to such
mischance, rose like a cork to the emergency, raised and
baled the canoe, and departed on her journey.’

While his crew were ashore cooking breakfast,
Grenfell followed a great precedent, by sitting in his
boat and speaking to the people on the shore. The
appearance of the white man caused great commotion
on the bank of the river, near to which they made their
course. Shouts of ‘ Mutu Mokala ’ preceded them,
crowds gathered, and the women and children, most of
whom had never seen a white man before, were not a
little scared. Grenfell surmises that he must have
seemed * a bogey clad in terrors ’ to the children, who
‘ran away and screamed in the most frantic manner,
falling over one another pell-mell,’ At noon they
reached the place of N’Toe, Chief of Wuri. While
sitting in his house the white man happened to turn

At the Cameroons

round suddenly. The children, who were inside, and at
the door, bolted, and there ensued a heap, the bottom
child being badly bruised.

The night, passed in N’ Toe’s town, gave the traveller
his first experience of sleeping in a native house. He
did not like it. On the morrow the journey was
continued to a point where four waterways met. The
reluctance of the crew to proceed further was overruled,
for Grenfell was determined to find out more of these
waterways than his men’s vague statements conveyed.
Resolved to take them seriatim, he started up the first
way to westward. Canoes were now following, and he
soon learned that their occupants were inspired by the
hope that he would shoot a hippopotamus, and so
supply them with ‘ beef.’

Willing to gratify their desire he got out his rifle.
His first shot missed. The largeness of the living target
shook his nerves, and the rocking of the boat counted.
His second shot went home, and though the wounded
beast got away into the bush, Grenfell learned afterwards
that it was tracked and found dead, to the great joy of
the seekers after meat. On being informed that this
river was ‘ four moons long,’ and the first town a day’s
pull distant, he returned, and attempted way No. 2.
This was occupied by herds of hippopotami, led to a
fishing town, and ended in a big lake. No. 3 proved
too shallow for navigation ; and half a mile of No. 4
revealed communication with No. 3, and the consequent
existence of an island. Landing on this island, Grenfell
walked barefoot on the hot sands, and resolved not to
repeat the experiment. He also shot a number of
birds, including a Kite with a four feet spread of wings.
The taste of his men was catholic in the matter of
‘poultry.’ They ate everything, Kites and all, being

The proposed Inspection 61

particularly pleased by the death of the ‘ Thief birds/ as
they style the members of the hawk tribe.

While on this island the crew * struck/ and the
head man communicated their decision to Grenfell.
There was an unsettled blood feud between Akwa’s
people, and the Budiman tribe ahead, so they resolutely
declined to proceed further up way No. 4. In that case
Grenfell decided that they should go back * one time/
that is, immediately, and barring a couple of hours
spent in a Wuri town for rest and cooking, they were
kept at the oars till they reached home.

While the men were cooking in the Wuri town,
Grenfell wandered off into the bush, observed certain
grounds where elephants used to feed at night, and in
the course of his return was overtaken by a chief who
begged that his wives, whom he had left some distance
behind, might be gratified by the sight of a white man.
Grenfell had just before slipped into a puddle and was
literally plastered with mud, a circumstance which made
him pardonably shy of the proposed inspection. But
in the event his embarrassment was proved needless.
When the ladies appeared round a bend in the path,
they stopped dead. As the white man approached
they retreated, and never suffered him to come within
pistol-shot of them. Their fear was greater than his
own.

It was dark when Grenfell and his men started for
the long pull home. Near the place where Ewangi was
killed they observed the crew of a large canoe, number-
ing about fifty, disembarking for the night. The
strangers were first amazed by the white man’s audacity
in going down river in the dark, and then emboldened
to follow in his wake ; and Grenfell ‘ soon heard the
dip of their paddles close astern/ It was between two

At the Cameroons

and three o’clock in the morning when they arrived
at the Mission beach, amid a storm of thunder and
lightning, such lightning as Grenfell had never seen
before. The illumination was continuous, and from
all points of the compass. It was also useful, facilitating
the discharge of the contents of the boat, and the
necessary walk across the long shelving beach, abound-
ing in treacherous pools.

The * welcome shelter * of home was peculiarly
welcome on this occasion, for before it was reached a
furious tornado had broken over the town, and the
flood-gates of the sky were opened.

The farthest point reached in this journey was fifty
miles inland and thirty miles above the Mission station.
In his next journey Grenfell hoped to proceed further,
as N’Toe, the Wuri chief, had promised to accompany
him, so that the Budiman palaver might not affect his
crew. The many ruined houses in the Wuri towns
testified to the ravages of small-pox, which had prevailed
a year previously. The appearance of the people was
pleasing, and many intelligent faces attracted attention.
They were also less exclusively devoted to trade than
the people near the coast, and less afraid of manual
labour. An extensive manufacture of earthenware pots
was carried on, for the supply of neighbouring tribes.
The missionary, in his character of evangelist, was
everywhere kindly received, and his message, conveyed
through an interpreter, was listened to with close
attention. The manners and customs were similar to
those with which he was familiar, though one odd detail
of difference was gravely noted. The holes in the lobes
of the women’s ears were larger. He observed two
cases in which small decanter stoppers were worn as
earrings, and another case in which an old woman

Attentions of a Tiger* 63

studied use and ornament by carrying her snuff-box in
this fashion. The purchase of a wooden spoon for a few
fish-hooks drew about the traveller a clamorous crowd,
anxious to dispose of spoons of all sorts and calabashes
of all sizes, from whose insistent and unwelcome appeals
he was only released by nightfall.

In a letter dated May 20 he writes with enthusiasm
of the country, and of his work.

‘Cameroons is a glorious place, a charming site
for a new Olympus, Arcadia, Valhalla and Happy
Hunting-ground all in one. Mountains, plains, rivers,
forests, lakes and islands all beyond my powers of
description. Birds of plumage grave and gay, of good
as well as vicious habits, from two inches long — the
birds, not the vicious habits — up to the pelican (a flock
of which in wondrous order flew over our house a few
days ago). Beasts — well, we’re favoured with the delicate
attentions of a tiger (leopard) with a taste for “ pig ”
just at the present crisis. He has left his spoor on
our newly-made bricks. I have tracked him into an
impenetrable jungle. I could not oust him from his
lair. I keep a double charge in my gun at night for
his special benefit ; he prowls round and has no com-
punction about disturbing us with his noise. I’ll disturb
his equanimity if I get a chance.’

There follow particulars of the journey which has
just been described, and later these important personal
references.

‘I am very happy at work here. I enjoy the
performance of my duties and God blesses me in them.
I have my times of downheartedness (littlesouledness),
but I am in the right place and doing the right work.
The consciousness of this is too deep-seated to allow
every cloud to damp my ardour. I have had a month’s

At the Cameroons

fever. African fever is not a pleasant companion for
long. I took no services or classes during the time, in
fact I could not.’

On June i at n a.m. Grenfell started out on a
missionary journey to the Abo towns. Five or six
hours’ rowing brought him to Kokki, where he preached
from his boat to a congregation seated in canoes, who
were attracted by the novelty of ‘Motu Mokala’
(white man), and subsequently filled with wonder and
admiration by his breech-loading, bright-barrelled gun.
Promising a visit on his return, he pushed on to Miang,
and upon landing, determined to spend the night in
a dilapidated trading house, which was available. The
hours of darkness were rendered sleepless and purga-
torial by mosquitoes, rats, mice and lizards, of excep-
tional vigour and audacity. One of the lizards tried
to make a bed in Grenfell’s hair. His hair was too
short to provide adequate accommodation, and one
gathers that the friendly creature found other troubles.

Before breakfast he started for Miang town, a mile
and a half distant, and endured a wearisome trudge,
uphill and through the bush. The chief Mweli, on
learning the nature of the missionary’s errand, beat
up an audience. After preaching for a short time,
Grenfell moved on still further to Anguan’s town,
where he had a congregation of 300 to listen to his
message. In the course of this last bit of travel, he
met a splendid specimen of primitive manhood, who
led him to note that the appearance of the people is
much superior to the popular notion at home ; and that
4 Darwin must not come to the Cameroons or its
tributaries for his “ missing link.” *

On the return journey Mweli begged him to take one
of his sons and educate him at the Mission. Existing

A Je-eng’O Charm

claims compelled him reluctantly to refuse this and
kindred offers, but he writes : ‘ In the future, however, I

look forward to receiving and training these boys, for
under God’s blessing they may take back with them,
when they return to their own countries, the knowledge
of the power of the Gospel of Christ.’

Starting at noon, they reached Mangamba, but
learning there was another town, Mandoko, beyond,
determined to proceed at once. The shallowness of the
water, and the narrowness of the Mandoko creek, made
the journey intensely laborious. Near the end of the
creek they found another deserted house, and took
possession. This house was protected by a Je-engo
charm : a bamboo rod, split at the top, and surmounted
by a tuft of grass. Je-engo is a form of secret, religious
society, of which freemen alone are permitted to become
members. It claims the power to issue edicts making
certain objects ‘ Eboe,’ i.e. ‘ taboo,’ and to impose the
death penalty, if its laws are disregarded. The house
chosen by Grenfell for a temporary lodging was ‘ Eboe.’
No man might dismantle it to repair his own house with
the materials. But Time had proved careless of ‘ Eboe,’
and it was a ruin, though usable.

Leaving part of his crew to cook, taking part as
escort, and securing a guide, Grenfell started for King
Le’a’s town two and a half miles distant. The highway
to the town leads through a sheet of water, a quarter of
a mile long and two and a half feet deep in places. He
was carried through shoulder high, going, but waded on
return. After passing the ruins of a former Mandoko,
destroyed by a neighbouring tribe in time of war, he at
length arrived at the King’s house, and as it stood a
mile within the borders of the town, he concluded that
Mandoko must be the largest town of the district.

At the Cameroons

Mango trees were observed here : ‘ Offshoots of those
Mr. Saker brought to Cameroons, thirty years ago/

The missionary was well received by the King,
delivered his message, and took back with him Priso,
one of the King’s many sons. The party arrived at the
‘Eboe’ house, just in time to secure shelter from a
tornado. Grenfell was intensely hungry, and writes:
‘ This evening I ate my first “ country chop,” fowl, with
plantain, palm oil and African peppers. Weren’t they
hot ? ’ The burning of certain beanhusks secured
immunity from mosquitoes, and a good night’s rest
was enjoyed.

On June 3, the homeward journey was commenced.
Mangamba and Bonamquasi were visited, and another
night of anguish spent at Miang. In the morning
Mweli, the chief, sent a present of cocoa-nuts, particu-
larly welcome for the wholesome drink they supplied.

‘ I have not yet discovered “ Afric’s sunny fountains,” ’
the journal records. ‘Afric’s decomposed-organic-
matter-in-suspension-laden streams abound ; but unless
you adopt the precaution of boiling, they have an
awkward tendency to produce diarrhoea. ” ’

This judgment must have been quickly modified by
subsequent experience, for less than three months later
Grenfell writes, in a letter to his College friend, the
Rev. J. M. G. Owen : ‘You also ask if “ Old Heber” is
correct in his statement, or is he drawing the long bow,
when he refers to “ Afric’s sunny fountains.” At first I
thought said party to be an awful fibber, for I could light
upon nothing but Afric’s decomposed-organic-matter-in-
suspension-laden streams. But since I have been up
country, and laved myself in sunny waters, clear as
crystal, and beautifully cool, I can corroborate the
statement of the aforesaid “ Old Heber.” ’

Abo Industries

The promised visit to Kokki, where two meetings
were held, concluded the business of the expedition, and
Grenfell made for home to prepare for Sundays services.

In the course of this journey he was impressed by
the industry and intelligence of the Abo people. He
found them skilled workers in iron, steel and wood, with
forges, carpenters’ shops* and a curious and ingenious
mixture of native and European tools. They produced
swords, spears, axes, hoes, chisels, etc., while wooden-
stool making formed a most important industry, bamboo
beds and wooden stools being the only articles of
furniture in native houses. Even chiefs, who com-
manded numerous slaves and wives, were not above
working with their hands, and Grenfell found King Le’a
making a fishing net, and the chief of Kokki, a large
canoe paddle.

The country is much more picturesque than on the
lower river, and from the hills of Bonamquasi, fine views
of surrounding scenery and distant mountains are to be
obtained. As to journeying in these regions Grenfell
writes : ‘ Travelling on the West Coast of Africa, so far
as my experience goes, cannot be performed in a very
luxurious manner. A missionary’s boat scarcely gives
him room to stretch his legs while on the water. On
land, mosquitoes, sand flies, lizards, and other pests
disallow much peace. Added to these troubles is the
difficulty of approach to the towns, a precaution adopted
in the old slave-hunting times. Mandoko has the
barrier of water, to be waded through, or carried over.
Mangamba and Bonamquasi are built on the summits
of very steep hills. The approach to the latter is so
steep that a considerable portion of the single-file path
consists of steps; and a path must be very steep to
compel Africans to resort to steps. To reach Miang

At the Cameroons

you had to go over the brow of the hill, and consequently
there are narrow, water- worn, steep, and rugged paths
to ascend, both in going and coming/

The Abo district is a great mimbo (palm-wine)
producing country. Many people get their living by
collecting the palm-juice from trees that grow alongside
the river and the creek. The collector walks up the
tree by means of a band, which passes round the trunk
and his own body. An incision is made at the junction
of the long fronds with the stem, from which the juice
flows slowly into a pot, suspended for its reception. It
is collected daily, and taken to the boiling shed, where
it is quickly converted into mimbo.

Under date June io, Grenfell reports a visit to the
Bethel Station of the Roman Catholic Missionary,
Vicar-General of Gaboon. ‘After an interview with
Mr. Saker, we went out to view the Chapel and the
town. The brick house and the native erections
excited the amiable Bishop’s curiosity and admiration.
There ensued a very pleasant interview, of an hour or
two’s duration, after which I accompanied my visitor
to the mail.’

June ii finds him at the crisis of one of those
minor woes of domestic life, which would elicit the
acute sympathy of many feminine readers if space
permitted the narration of the story. His cook had
become impossible and must go. The list of his
culinary inaptitudes, misdemeanours, and atrocities is
appalling. Yet even for him his kind master has a
good word to say. ‘ He was a capital hand at taking
physic, for which he seemed at times to have acquired
quite a passion. We have known him afflicted with
three distinct complaints in one day. Early in the
morning he had worms ; at midday he had a sore

Quiri Rescued

throat ; and before nightfall there was something the
matter with his heart. So bad a case called for strong
treatment, and I gave him a potent mixture. He has
not troubled me much since, except that when my other
boy got ill he was sure to be attacked too.’

On June 12 Grenfell reports himself as suffering
from a slight fever ; graphically describes the killing
of a huge snake in a house at the corner of the
Mission yard, and gives a hearsay account of the
‘ driver ants/ which travel in dense columns of a foot
wide, and drive all living things before them. Later he
was able to discourse on this theme with the authority
of personal experience.

June 13. ‘ N’Kwi brought Quiri in at breakfast

time. Quid’s mother died yesterday, and he was about
to be buried with her, as no one would take him. It
would be bad luck. N’Kwi, passing by, observed them
burying the woman under the floor of the house, took
the child, a promising boy of five months, and handed
him over to the Mission/ Mr. Saker’s cook, Tutu, who
was suckling a child of her own, promptly undertook
the duties of foster-mother. A boy nurse also came
with the child, for the boys are as fond of nursing in
Cameroons as are girls at home. Married men, too,
do a great deal of nursing, while their wives are
engaged on the farms. They have time, as their
day’s engagements often consist of little more than
bathing three times in the river, and drying themselves
as many times in the sun. The babies are taken into
the river, ducked mercilessly, and if they survive become
' amphibious creatures/ as much at home in water as on
land.

June 14. ‘Trade to-day opens and is as of old.
This ends a dispute which for nine months has stopped

At the Cameroons

all business in the river. Mutual concessions have been
made in the matter of prices ; but I think the Europeans
have made but slight ones compared with those of the
native trader, who will no doubt take advantage of
the palaver, and make even greater profit out of the
middleman from whom he obtains the oil. He again
will recoup himself at the expense of the producers, the
poor women and children of the interior. Labour must
be very cheap, or so many profits could not be realized.

* Aristocracy, nobility, even royalty itself is not too
high-minded to engage in commerce. In fact it is
their commercial enterprise that supports them, for they
have no other revenues. Even the high and mighty
potentates, Kings Ja-Ja and Oko Jumbo, are traders,
and trade palavers were the cause of the wars of these
kings, and the ultimate migration of the worsted party
to the Opobo River ; and it was there I had the extreme
felicity of being introduced to his majesty Ja-Ja.’

There follows a pen-and-ink portrait of King William
of Bimbia, an ostentatious and boastful monarch who
very much resembles a parish beadle in his attire, and
who has lately visited Mr. Saker more than once, beg-
ging. The ignoble nobility of the Cameroons is not
above begging. Most of them will cringe and fawn for
a head of tobacco, worth threepence ; ‘ and there is not
one of them who is above receiving “ a dash ” (which he
asks from a missionary as well as a trader) of the value
of a bar and a half, equal to eighteen pence. A bar,
may be a bar of soap, of iron, of copper, all of the value
of a shilling. A fathom of chintz or blue satin stripe, a
sort of muslin used for waist-cloths, equals a bar. So
many heads of tobacco (3) equal a bar. So many pipes,
fish-hooks, etc., equal a bar. A full-grown fowl is priced
at a bar, but as a bar of fish-hooks does not cost half as

The Bap Standard

much as a bar of soap or of cloth, to buy a fowl with
fish-hooks, or a chest-lock, which also equals a bar, is
economical. A bar is the standard. A canoe to hold
fifty men costs 1200 to 1500 bars; a wife, from 800
bars up.’

CHAPTER IV

AT THE CAMEROONS — continued

In Ill-health — On the Way Home— Arrival — Marriage — Return to
Cameroons— ‘ Exciting Time ’ on the River— Death of Mr.
Smith — Added Responsibility — Slow Progress of the Gospel —
Death of Mrs. Grenfell—1 A Sad New Year —Daily Life— And
Daily Costume— Difficulties with Spanish Authorities— Views
on Interior Missions— Geography of the District— Hopes of
Better Times — A Snake Story — Dumbi — The Rev. J. J.
Fuller— Grenfell and Comber.

IN a letter to Mr. Owen dated August 20 containing
the reference to Heber and ‘ Afric’s sunny foun-
tains,’ already cited, Grenfell states that he has had
a serious attack of fever and is in fine condition for
phrenological examination, having been cropped to the
bone. His friend had suggested, under what provoca-
tion does not appear, that he was mad when he wrote
a previous letter. He surmises a like verdict will be
passed this time. ‘But what can be expected of a
poor fellow whose pulse is chronically going beyond a
hundred, and sometimes reaches 130?’ His own ill-
ness, and Mr. Saker’s failing strength, will probably
necessitate his early return to England that he may be
ready to take charge if Mr. Saker should relinquish
duty early next year. Though very low he has a good
heart, and expects to be well by the time he arrives at
Liverpool. He cannot speak definitely of his return,
as communication with Cameroons is so uncertain.

Voyage in a Cutter

Probably he will have to sail to Fernando Po, and there
await a steamer. The short journey to Fernando Po is
no light matter, and he gives a long and graphic account
of a painful voyage, in a cutter, there and back, which
occupied seven days. This forecast was fulfilled.

‘ S.S. “ Volta,” 23 Nov. 1875. Pm getting tired of this.
Here I am in the sixth week of my journeying and have
not reached the Canaries yet. It will be more than a
seven weeks’ voyage this time.

‘ The Captain of the steamer “ Congo ” promised to
call for me on the 10th October, but failed to keep his
word and I had to cross to Fernando Po in a cutter.
,1 had to sleep for a couple of nights on the tarpaulin
over the hatch, amid all sorts of sundries that collect
upon the deck of a boat forty feet long, consisting
of ropes, cooking utensils, marline-spikes and other
etceteras which go to make a comfortable lodging.
The failure of the “ Congo ” to call accounts for my being
three or four weeks behind time.

‘ My health is much improved. I have not had nearly
so much fever and ague on board as on shore. It’s of
no use to spin a long yarn now I am so near seeing you
face to face.’

The records of Grenfell’s brief stay in England
accessible to the biographer, are out of all proportion,
in their meagreness, to its personal significance for him.
In one of his letters, written at the Cameroons, he says
that during a long spell of fever, which incapacitated
him for more urgent duties, and also for correspondence,
his letter-writing was restricted within limits ‘you can
define.’ Undoubtedly he meant, that he wrote only to
Miss Mary Hawkes, the lady to whom he was engaged
to be married. Miss Hawkes was the sister of his friend
Joseph Hawkes, a member of Heneage Street Church,

At the Cameroons

one of his former fellow-workers, and admirably qualified
to aid him in the service to which he had devoted his
life.

The marriage took place on February n, 1876, at
Heneage Street Church, Birmingham, and the service
was conducted by the Rev. Samuel Hawkes, of Braintree,
Essex, brother of the bride. On February 19 Grenfell
writes to a friend a brief note, humorously acknowledging
the engrossing nature of his recent experience, and duly
apologizing for delay in answering a welcome letter.
He continues : ‘ However, I have just managed to screw
a bit out of the corner of to-day to reply to your kind
epistle. The thought of writing has been ever present
since landing, and in fact, so far back as December 9, I
furnished myself with your address.

Item 1. I am better.

2. I am married.

3. We sail on Saturday at 10 a.m.

This therefore serves to say “ Good-bye ” again, to thank
you for your good wishes, and to express my most
profound regrets that we have not met.’

To the same friend, Mr. Owen, he writes from
Cameroons under date May 11, making interesting
reference to his voyage and subsequent experiences :
‘Your letters are always better than a doctor’s fee, and
invariably do me more good than a bottle of physic ;
but although I got your last epistle out for re-perusal
on board ship, it did not succeed where the doctor had
failed this time. I’m a wretched sailor ; my wife beats
me hollow. She got on deck a day before I did. You
may judge (that is, if you have ever been sea sick),
that the first week was a festive season. At last
Madeira was sighted, and not long after afforded a

A Right Hearty Welcome 75

firmer foundation for us saints than the quarter of the
steamer. I felt quite at home at Funchal. It was

delightfully new and strange to Mrs. G . Teneriffe

ditto. We went up the Gambia to Bathurst. It’s a
glorious place ; I sincerely hope the Government won’t
cede it to the French. After being knocked up and
down, and serving as shuttlecocks for old Father Nep.’s
battledores for upwards of a month, we landed on the
6th April and received a right hearty welcome from the
people. Although the “prc ramme” was not strictly
adhered to in the formation of the procession, the pro-
cession was there. The exuberance of their feelings and
delight at seeing “ Mammie ” destroyed all discipline, in
fact demoralized the whole cortege.

‘ Since being here I have made a short journey in
the little steamer. She is a splendid little thing for
accommodation, but draws rather too much water for
our rivers, which widen out in places and become very
shallow. I am now preparing for another trip in my
sailing-boat, which will carry me far beyond the limit
accessible by the steamer. Of course I shan’t be so
comfortable in my little boat. The people were very
much startled by the steamer. Except those who had
visited the mail anchorage when a steamer happened to
be in, none of them had seen one before.

‘ The people are glad to see us, very anxious to do
a bit of bartering, but very slow to believe our message ;
indeed they are very incredulous.

‘ Once when we struck on a sand bank, a chief sent
his men to push us off. The effort made was successful,
so we “ dashed ” the men a few hooks, and the chief, a
fathom of blue baft. A little time elapsed and we were
overtaken by the chief, who wanted a “ dash ” for his
wife. I gave him a pair of earrings, value twopence, and

At the Cameroons

the old man went away delighted, leaving a fowl, and
promising if we would only wait he would send us a
goat as soon as he got on shore again. We could not
wait, so promised to call again for the goat, which I
shall be careful to do. The scenery was very fine. It’s
a glorious country to look at, but not so nice to live in ;
in fact there are too many living in it to be comfortable.
I allude to mosquitoes and other reptiles. . . .

‘ When you write let’s have the news about College
(Stokes Croft, I mean) so far as you are informed.
Even during my short absence of a year I found the
place wonderfully changed — when I see it again I
wonder what then ? The men ail scattered, you a
weighty Divine or a ponderous Don, and myself, if God
spares my life to return, no longer plump as of yore, but
a dried-up African Missionary. I can assure you I am
fast losing my attractive qualities from a cannibal point
of view— 920 in the shade tends to reduction. ... I must
wind up by telling you I’m well, never better ; am full
of good resolves and great intentions ; I pray they may
ripen into something. My wife, who is not very well —
she’s just recovering from her first dose of fever — joins
with me in hoping all sorts of good things on your
behalf.’

On June 15 Mrs. Grenfell is reported as suffering
from ague. She has gone to stay with Mr. and Mrs.
Fuller, three miles up the river, a visit that ‘ always does
her good.’ The painting of his boat has been a minor
trouble to Grenfell. Apparently he has been as fastidious
about the colour, as a girl might be about the tint of her
spring costume. More serious trouble again has been
occasioned by the blood-thirstiness of his neighbours.

‘ We’ve had an exciting time of it in the river this
week. A quarrel at Hickory town on Monday last,

6 Book for Cut’

which was fixed upon as a great play day for the Elung
secret society, resulted in two freemen being killed.
King Bell, who is chief of the Prisu people as well as
the town next us, went up with his war canoes and
brought the two murderers down to his place, upon the
pretext of their drinking the ordeal cup ; but instead
of that he had them shot upon the beach yesterday
morning. These also were freemen, and it is quite rare
for such to suffer the extreme penalty. Beside the four
dead, there are about twenty badly injured in the fight,
and another twenty just able to get about. Sticking
plaster and friar’s balsam are at a premium just now.
I am bothered for “ book for cut.” A letter is “ book,”
and sticking plaster is “ book ” here as well as a printed
volume.’

In August, Mr. Smith, who was in charge of the
station at Victoria, and had the oversight of Mr.
Quentin Thomson’s station up the mountain, died.
Grenfell was compelled to take up this additional
burden, and found himself responsible for three stations.
Writing in September he says that Mr. Saker has sent
off the greater part of his luggage and is preparing to
follow. When Saker is gone there will only be Mr.
Fuller and himself left. He is sending to England for
stores for next year, and as nine-tenths of the expenses
of the sub-stations have to be defrayed in goods, the
secular work of the Mission claims no small part of his
time. Things light, and things grave, mingle in the
following paragraph, but both are expressive of the
man —

‘ I enclose a feather for Lily’s hat. My boys ate the
bird. I got the wings. My crew, for a long pull such
as to Victoria, consists of nine or ten hands. My gun is
very useful as a provider of fresh meat on such occasions.

At the Cameroons

This is a dark land. Christ and His Gospel make but
slow progress here. I am often sad, and wish I were a
more able servant. Your experience no doubt can
furnish you with a notion of the great barrier which the
indolence and self-seeking of the people form against
the truth, which bids diligent service, and self-denial.*
Early in the new year, sorrow knocked at Grenfell’s
door. His wife died. Naturally he wrote longer and
more detailed letters to kinsfolk, but the following note,
to Mr. Thomas Lewis, of Birmingham, dated Cameroons,
January 13, 1877, tells all that needs to be told, in few
words of sufficient poignancy : —

‘ It’s a sad new year I’ve had of it. It’s sorrowful
news I’ve to tell. First Polly was sick, then worse, now
dead and buried. I can’t write much about it ; it’s going
through it all again. I’m all alone, and you may guess
how wretched. I can’t realize my position yet, or under-
stand why I’m so soon deprived of the help I so much
need. But I must not write so. About a month ago
Polly was attacked by dysentery. This I could by no
means subdue. It continued till it induced premature
delivery of a dead child on the 3rd inst. On the 4th
and 5th Polly was rallying a bit I thought, and I did
not at all fear a fatal result. However, on the 8th she
was delirious, and I traced symptoms of puerperal fever
which proved fatal on the 10th. During the lucid
intervals of the last three days she manifested great
composure. She said “ I’m not afraid to die, only sorry
to leave you by yourself.” Then she had, I’m sure, very
bright glimpses into the future. I scarcely care to go
over her words again ; but she was happy, very happy,
and died full of glorious anticipations. I never felt the
other world so real. It is nearer than ever it was. I
can’t write any more.

A Picture Of Himself

‘Give my love to Jenny and the boy. Tell him, as
the natives say, “ big trouble catch me this time for
true.” 1

Shortly after this heavy blow, the Rev. T. J. Comber,
who had settled at Victoria, came to live with Grenfell,
and his sympathetic companionship afforded the best
possible human consolation. They were like-minded,
and made some important journeys together.

It would not be possible to attempt anything like a
connected account of Grenfell’s remaining stay at the
Cameroons even if the materials available permitted.
The story would be disproportionately long. But
extracts from some few of his letters will enable the
reader to form a not inadequate conception of the man
at his work. Here is a picture of himself and his
environment sketched by his own pen in July, 1877 : —

* I am busy, too, setting up our saw mill. I hope I
shall manage to make it go. Mr. Saker had it taken to
pieces some years ago, and it has never been refixed
since ; and as things are very apt to go astray, especially
bolts and nuts, I am having a turn at the forge most
days for something or other connected with it. If you
saw me sometimes after my engine work you would
think there was small relation ’twixt the present G. G.
and the old one you knew ; not much like an “ eminent
divine ” I can assure you. It’s rough sort of work, but
suits me very well. I don’t write my sermons now.
One has to talk very plainly and very simply, and give
it in small doses, and hit hard, to reach the folk. A
plainness that would not be tolerated at home is the
best and only style suitable to these thick-skinned sons
of Ham. You’ll say I’m disrespectful in my style.
Well, you must not make my letter public property,
people would think I’m “going wrong,” and hold up their

At the Cameroons

hands in pious horror, and exclaim “ another good man

gone to the bad.” Look, L , it would not be much

use for me to turn out in a suit of regimentals every day.
Pink shirts, minus several of the buttons, sail-cloth un-
mentionables, with a jack knife in a sheath, so as to be
always handy when in the boat or at work ; a sou’ -wester
if it’s wet, or if it’s dry, an old helmet, serves as head
gear. A pair of shoes well ventilated, and socks that
are a perfect puzzle when I wear them, and often no
socks at all. Good boots are a mistake, the water on
our beaches spoils them in a day or two ; and as we
don’t study keeping feet dry, to protect them from the
pebbles, etc., any old things do. I’ve a favourite old
pair, which, by the bye, are not a pair, for one is a
buttoned one minus the buttons, the other a lace, tied
at the time I write with a bit of bush grass. To-morrow
sometime it will break perhaps, and if you were here
you’d see me rummaging about for a bit of fibre or
something of the sort, before I could get back to the
house again, unless I went “one shoe off and one
shoe on.”

‘This is about the style of my working rig. Of
course for meeting I adorn, with a decent “ biled rag ”
and less questionable pants, and sometimes rise to the
dignity of a collar. When a steamer comes in (which
one has not done for nearly three months past) , I " tidy
up ” a bit ; and if I am out in the boat or steamer I have
a change handy for going ashore. For instance, when
at Fernando Po last in our little steamer, because I had
no “ papers ” the Spanish Commandant of the port sent
his boat to bring me on board the Guard-Ship, it would
not have done to have gone in stoke-hole gear.

‘ At Fernando the Spaniards are awfully suspicious,
and I had a great deal of trouble to convince them that

The Spanish Guard-Ship 81

I had no other cargo than two reams of printing paper
and letters for England. They would not let me send
my boat ashore until I had undergone categorical
enquiry, and personal inspection. However, I satisfied
the Spanish Dons, and went ashore without further
molestation. The Spanish “ powers that be ” out there
in Fernando Po, are closely related to the powers that
“ are not ” at times, for, a little while ago, when an
English Man-of-War went there, the Spanish had no
powder to return the salute. A little while before this,
their Guard-Ship was ordered home, and after being out
nearly a fortnight was obliged to turn back leaky. If
I had gone into port with full steam on, and made
straight for their old tub they’d have been in a fright
for fear they’d have gone to the bottom, for their afore-
said tub would not have stood much “ ramming.”

‘ I am now preparing for further journeying when the
dry season comes, nearly three months yet I have one
Teneriffe donkey, and hope to get another soon. The
one I have is quite a curiosity in the eyes of the natives
who have never seen one before. They come for miles
to see him, and in crowds, are quite terror-stricken when
he brays, and retreat in amusing confusion. I have not
yet had him in harness for he has one or two bare places
on his legs, the results of his sea voyage.’

About this time Grenfell wrote a letter to Dr. Glover,
of Bristol, whose church had taken friendly and practical
interest in his explorations. It contains a brief general
sketch of his journey ings, with some important reflections
upon the relative merits of coast and interior as fields
for Mission work.

4 In all my journeyings I have kept in view the
object of finding the best route into the interior ; for
I believe that if the same amount of effort which is

At the Cameroons

bestowed here were bestowed upon some inland station
it would produce far greater results. This station must
be sustained, but much might radiate from it that is
now centred in it. This view respecting the greater
success of inland missions was confirmed by Mr.
Rottman, whom I entertained a month or so back for
three days during the stay of the steamer here. He is
one of the seniors of some forty Europeans constituting
the Basle Mission, whose headquarters are at Christians-
borg, near Accra. He said that their coast stations
had to contend with almost insuperable difficulties,
and made but little progress ; while their inland stations
were far more prosperous, and much better health pre-
vailed among the Europeans. Lieutenant Young, of
the Livingstonia Mission, refers to the fact of the coast
tribes being spoiled by their contact with the traders on
the east. It is the same here on the west. It would be
a grand thing to be able to push away right beyond the
influences that operate so adversely, and it can be done.
I am glad to observe in the Freeman , dated 6th April,
in a paragraph referring to the work of the Episcopal,
Presbyterian, Congregational, and Wesleyan Societies
in Africa, that the Baptists, who were also taking part
in the evangelization of the country, would work from
their own base on the western side. It is cheering to
one who longs to get inland to know that the sympathy
of the Society runs in that direction too. But if any-
thing great is to be accomplished, very considerable aid
must come from home.

4 1 send with this a portion of chart, to which I have
affixed a rude sketch. These may help you to under-
stand what I have already done in the way of visiting
the neighbouring people. I have been up all the
branches of the river as far as a boat can go, excepting

Avenues into the Country 83

the one running due north, which flows into the
Mordecai Creek. All the places marked and named
with pen I have visited. Endokoko, Endokombwang,
Dibongo, and Edea have not been visited by any other
white man. The Lungasi towns had never before been
visited by a white man. Mr. Comber accompanied me
on my second journey a fortnight ago. We then visited
some other places than those I first saw.

‘The rivers running north to Abo and north-east
to Endokobele are capital avenues into the country ;
but the people on the banks are very numerous, and
very jealous about allowing communication with the
tribes beyond. So great are the difficulties in these
directions that I doubt whether a small cortege would
be able to pass. At the present time the Dido town
difficulty stops the way of everybody. No trade has
been carried on in these rivers for nearly three months.

‘ The river running to Edea is a splendid water-way,
but the Qua-Qua, which connects it with our river, is
full of shoals, quite impassable in the dry season by
the steamer, and only to be navigated by a boat with
difficulty. The Borea, when once reached, affords a
four-fathom channel right away up to the falls. I made
the attempt to pass the bar at Malimba, thinking to
find a way for the steamer by going round outside, but
even in the best season the surf was such as to render
the thing impossible. This left the Dibamba branch to
be tried.

‘ This branch I find is navigable by the steamer, as
far as the beach which leads to the Lungasi towns, for
eight months during the year. The people at Yansoki,
Bwang, Yapoma, and the Dibamba towns do not seem
so prejudiced against our advances inland, and even
though they were inclined to stop us, an expedition of a

At the Cameroons

dozen people would overawe the simple population of
the largest town we should pass. On my first journey,
at several places the people all fled, leaving their food
in the process of being cooked, their guns, their matchets,
all to the tender mercies of us invaders, which did not
prove so very cruel after all. There is another advantage
about this route — that is, in the case of any difficulty
with King Akwa, or King Bell (not at all a remote
contingency if we attempt to go eastward), we can reach
Dibamba from Victoria without their being at all
acquainted with our movements. These dignitaries
have just compelled us to withdraw our teachers from
Kalaki. They say that the teachers spoiled their trade ;
they are afraid of the country people’s eyes being
opened.

‘ I am taking steps to procure some Kroomen for
carriers, so that when the dry season opens, I may
be able to make a journey without depending upon
Cameroons men, who are so likely to disappoint one.
Even in a short journey, such as those I have already
made, the bugbears they have conjured up as excuses
for not going further have proved them the possessors
of wonderfully fertile imaginations. Six Kroomen will
cost for hire during one year — wages about £ 45 , food
a similar sum, passages from their home (about 1,200
miles distant), and back again, about £30. All the
hard work on this part of the coast is performed by
these men ; they work all the cargo and boats in the oil
trade. There are about 120 of them in our river, all
engaged for one year. I think if I can succeed in
getting these men and stores, I shall, with two Dualla
men whom I can trust, make an attempt to leave here
in October next, and go eastwards. At present the
rainy season precludes the possibility of travelling.

Regarded as a Marvel 85

September generally sees the end of the heaviest rains.

I shall also try to get a couple of asses from Teneriffe ;
they will cost about £30, together with passage here.
There are four at Victoria rendering very valuable
assistance to those going up to our Mission station at
Bonjongo. They are very fine animals, not at all like
the despised donkey of England.

* The journeys I have already made this year have
more than exhausted my allowance for this object, and
if I am to go farther I must have the assurance that my
drafts to cover the expense will be honoured. At
present I know our Society is not in a position to
authorize increased expenditure, but I hope something
will be done by ourselves as well as the other sections
of the Church in this work. At present it would be
rash to get together large sums of money and fit out
expeditions, even though we were able to do it. What
is wanted is a small sum to cover a pioneering effort, so
that we may learn something of what is beyond, and
what steps it will be best to take. We have no beaten
path or caravan route here, as they have on the eastern
coast. With my poor achievements, I am regarded
quite as a marvel by the Cameroons men, because I
have been so far beyond where they would not think of
going, so that we cannot expect guides from these
people. In my two last journeys the paths were so
indistinct in many places that I had to “ blaze ” the
trees, to mark our route, and to guide us coming back.
I thus marked about twenty miles myself.

‘ Mr. Comber, who is now staying with me for awhile,
has made a journey on the north-eastern side of the
mountain, reaching a place named Bakundu. He did
at one time think of settling there, but hearing of the
possible opening of the Lungasi country he accompanied

At the Cameroons

me during my last journey ; but as we did not find a
town large enough to settle down in, he is divided
between the idea of reverting to Bakundu, and going on
beyond Lungasi and trying in that direction again.

4 The head men in the river are anxious to be under
Her Majesty’s control ; they are waiting only for King
Bell’s sanction and co-operation to petition the English
Government to be included in the British realm. They
are evidently getting tired of their attempts to govern
themselves. Every dispute leads to war, and often
great loss of life. They think that if the strong hand of
our law were to interfere, they would be freed from the
necessity of going to war to punish a murderer or a
thief. If it were not for the terrorism of the secret
societies the old customs would not enthral so com-
pletely the thoughtful men around us. They are afraid
to forsake or expose the absurdities of their heathenish
fashions. One man was bold enough, two or three
weeks since, to ridicule the famous “ Moonge ” fashion.
At night his house was surrounded and burnt, and he
himself paid the penalty with his life. Tim Akwa
(virtually king of our town, his father being so old and
infirm) is accounted a very bold man, because he comes
to chapel twice every Sunday and sometimes wears
a shirt. The prejudice against adopting anything like
the habits of civilized countries, is jealously fostered
by the Ngambi men or witch-doctors. This state of
affairs would be quite altered upon British occupation.
Civilization would be at a premium then, and the
people not afraid of mending their habits.’

In August Grenfell complains that ‘ the rains get into
one’s system, and wash out the energy,’ also that he is
dreadfully hard up for news of Heneage Street. The
same letter contains a snake story. A girl of the house-

hold was frightfully scared when she entered the dining-
room one morning, and encountered a snake nine feet
long. It was dead. Grenfell had shot it at midnight,
but with scant consideration for other people’s feelings,
had left it where it lay. There follows a pretty sketch
of Ti, who was his wife’s favourite boy. Ti is a gallant
youth, accompanies Grenfell in his travels, is proud of
his ability to walk with the men, and often leads the
caravan. ‘ He is rejoiced by the dignity of being ranked
with his elders in work. ... I sincerely trust he will
grow up a good lad. I am very hopeful of him. He
sets our pulpit in order every Sunday, carries the big
Bible, rings the bell, etc.’

It was Ti whom Grenfell re-named John Greenhough,
conferring the honour piece-meal. Ti was simply John,
until he had proved himself to be ‘ a good John,’ and so
not unworthy to bear the second name. Ti appreciated
his honour and claimed it. ‘ It was very hard even for
me, who had redubbed him, to forget his “ long time ”
soubriquet, and even harder for his companions. If I
miscalled him, “ Please, Sah, my name be John,” was
the response ; if anybody else, they got no response
at all.’

In one of the letters of this period Grenfell speaks
with enthusiasm of Dumbi’s efficiency as a tailor. The
Rev. J. J. Fuller gives an amusing account of Dumbi’s
apprenticeship. The reader will remember that this boy
was the genius whose intelligence and practical efficiency
consoled his schoolmaster in the trouble occasioned by
dull and refractory pupils.

One day Grenfell said to Mr. Fuller, ‘You have
carpenters, bricklayers, brickmakers, and printers ; have
you a tailor ? ’ Mr. Fuller confessed they had not.
Whereupon Grenfell said : ‘ We must have one.’ So he

At the Cameroons

had a suit of his clothes ripped up, and Dumbi was set
to put them together again. A sewing machine was
procured from England ; Grenfell taught Dumbi how
to use it ; and in a few months the Mission possessed a
tailor, who instructed others in his craft, and made clothes
which traders, as well as Mission people, were glad to buy.

And here I crave indulgence for a slight digression
in appreciation of the Rev. J. J. Fuller, whose story is a
romance which ought to be told in picturesque detail.
Born a slave in Jamaica, he was included in the Charter
of Emancipation. He was present at the historic funeral
ceremony when William Knibb buried the insignia of
slavery, and hoisted the Union Jack for monument.
Acquiring education, he joined Mr. Saker, under the
auspices of the Baptist Missionary Society, and served for
forty years in the Cameroons. Thousands of Baptists in
England have made his acquaintance, as a most welcome
deputation from the Society, and have been inspired
by his skilled advocacy to more intense interest in
Missionary work. I well remember a visit which he
paid me in my own house some twenty years ago.
As he entered the room, my two little girls, who had
never seen a coloured man before, clasped hands, and
backed, and backed, till they were hard against the
wall. Ten minutes later, they were sitting on his knees,
with his arms about them, listening to stories with which
he beguiled their attention, and answering the call of
the man’s big heart with confidence and love.

The relations of Mr. Fuller with Grenfell and
Comber were ideal. He was old enough to be their
father, genial enough to be their chum, man enough to
command their respect, and Christian enough to elicit
their profound spiritual affection. They wrote to him
some of their best letters. Now he is £ Dear Daddy

Vianga Vianga

Fuller/ now 'Dear Old Boy/ but always it is evident
that they know he would do anything possible for them,
and that they would do anything possible for him. Mrs.
Fuller was like-minded, and as opportunity served,
played mother to them both.

Some months ago it was my privilege to take tea
with Mr. and Mrs. Fuller in their home in Stoke
Newington. Mrs. and Miss Grenfell were also their
guests. To them, Mr. Fuller was ' Dadda Fuller/ and
'Grandpa Fuller/ as of old. And many good stories
were told which space limits exclude. But one must
not be omitted.

Mr. Fuller was present when Grenfell and Comber
received the letter from the Committee inviting them to
proceed to the Congo. Comber looked over Grenfell’s
shoulder as he read the momentous missive, and when
the gist of it was mastered, threw up his hat, and
danced like an excited schoolboy. The incident was
characteristic. Irrepressible and inexhaustible vitality
was part of Comber’s charm, and an element of his
personality in no small degree contributive to his
influence and his success. ‘ Vianga Vianga,’ the Congo
natives called him, which being interpreted, signifies
' always on the go.’ He was young when he died. But
into his brief life, he crammed more than the content of
a hundred lethargic years.

Mr. Fuller attained the ripe age of fourscore and
three years, and passed peacefully away on December 1 1,
1908, shortly before this work went to the press. He
also had lived strenuously, and has now rejoined his
friends Grenfell and Comber in the timeless region,
where parting and age and pain and death are known
no more.

CHAPTER V

PIONEERING ON THE LOWER

CONGO

Discovery of the Congo— Mr. Stanley’s Journey-- San Salvador—
Mr. Arthington’s Offer— ‘Africa for Christ’— Mr. Arthington’s
Letter— Starting of the Congo Mission— Decision of Grenfell
and Comber— Spying out the Land— Description of the Country
—Grenfell and his Boat— A Jesuit Priest — Jack the Donkey-
Reception at San Salvador — Arrival at Makuta— Grenfell’s
Second Marriage— Reinforcements— Chain of Stations— Native
Houses — Difficulties of Transport — Romish Opposition— I sangila
Manyanga— The Basundi.

OR a full account of earlier European explorations,

JL settlements, and missions in the region of the
Lower Congo, and for the history of the Ancient
Kingdom of Kongo and related native powers, the
reader must be referred to the chapters of Sir Harry
Johnston’s work, in which he has treated these subjects
with adequate learning and in vivid narrative.

It may suffice here to quote the opening paragraphs
of an article written by Grenfell during his stay in
England in 1882.

‘“Tuckey’s farthest, 1816,” a point less than 200
miles from the sea-coast along the course of the River
Congo, marked, up till five years ago, the limit of our
knowledge of the country through which that great river
flows. Discovered so far back as the fifteenth century,
all that was known up till very recently was that, on

On the Lower Congo

account of its immense volume, it ranked amongst the
greatest rivers of the world ; and also that, after a
navigable course of about a hundred miles, it entered
upon a cataract region where further progress was
effectually barred, which so bristled with difficulties
that none of the attempts made to penetrate the
mysteries of the Upper Congo had been successful.

‘ In September, 1877, news reached England that Mr.
Henry M. Stanley, who had started from Zanzibar on
the East Coast, had made his way across the continent
and down the course of this river, proving it to be the
same stream as the Lualaba, about which geographers
had been greatly exercised, and near the source of
which Dr. Livingstone died.

‘ So far back as the close of the sixteenth century, San
Salvador, the capital of the kingdom of Kongo, was a
walled city, and could boast of its cathedral and seven
other churches. It was the see of a bishop (at one time
filled by a native), and till the middle of the seventeenth
century the rites of the Roman Catholic Church were
regularly maintained. So far back as 250 years ago the
country was partially civilized, and had become nominally
Christian. But after the transference of the see to St.
Paul de Loanda, and after the removal of the military
force of the Portuguese Government, the churches fell
into ruins, and the people lapsed into barbarism ; for,
while the rites of the Roman Catholic Church are well
calculated to appeal to the native mind, they very
evidently fail to accomplish the real changes of heart
and life which characterize a vital Christianity.

‘ Looking back upon what San Salvador had been, and
contemplating the few, but interesting, remains of a past
civilization, Mr. Arthington’s great heart was moved with
sympathy for the people, and he generously offered a

‘Africa for Christ’

considerable sum, if our Society would undertake mission
work in this sphere, so long deserted by the Papal
Church.

‘ While our Society was consulting the Churches about
entering this field of labour, the news reached England
of how Stanley had crossed the continent, and had found
the Congo to be an immense waterway into the heart of
Africa. This news settled the question of the Congo
Mission, for not only did the needs of the people of the
Kongo kingdom appeal to us, but we felt the claims
of the millions of the great central plateau ; and our
Churches, true to their traditions as pioneers in great
and good works, immediately took up the cause with
zeal, and “ Africa for Christ ” became the watchword of
the Society.’

The letter of Mr. Arthington, referred to above, is
so important a document in the records of the Baptist
Mission, and so determining a factor in the evolution
of Grenfell’s character and career, that it must be given
in full —

‘Dear Sirs and Brethren,

‘ I trust the time has come when the Christian
Church must put forth far greater efforts to preach the
Gospel in all the world. “ All that the Father giveth
Me shall come to Me ; and him that cometh to Me I
will in no wise cast out”

‘These words of Jesus, in connection with His com-
mand, to go into all the world and preach the Gospel to
every creature, are very encouraging. If each section of
the Christian Church would do its part in the energy of
true faith, we might make great advances in our day in
extending the knowledge of saving truth throughout the
world. There is a part of Africa, not too far, I think,

On the Lower Congo

from places where you have stations, on which I have
long had my eye, with very strong desire that the bless-
ing of the Gospel might be given to it. It is the Congo
country — an old kingdom ; once possessed, indeed, is
now, of a measure of civilization, and to a limited extent
instructed in the externals of the Christian religion.

‘ Within three hundred years it appears that Romanish
missions, in connection with Portugal, gave the people of
Congo some information of the Christian religion, so
as to have left permanent traces existing there at the
present day.

‘ In Livingstone’s time (see p. 426 of the 1857 edition
of his travels), the Prince of Kongo was professedly a
Christian, and report said there were some churches there
kept in partial repair, and that many of the inhabitants
could read and write. There is not, however, much
knowledge of the Christian religion in Congo. In the
last lines of Chapter 21, Livingstone speaks either of
Congo, or of Congo written Angola, as “ a fine missionary
field.”

‘ Commander Grandy, who was sent out under the
Royal Geographical Society of England to explore
the Congo River, in answer to a letter from me, in a
communication dated “ 131, Ladbrooke Grove, Notting
Hill, W., December 22, 1874,” writes —

‘ “ Only three or four of the inhabitants of the Congo, the
San Salvador of the Portuguese, can read and write. The King’s
secretary and two of his sons, I know, can speak and write
Portuguese. The inhabitants of Congo are partly Christianized,
and follow the doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church;
but the King of Kongo, hearing I held service on Sundays,
attended twice, remained the whole time, and showed much
attention. He afterwards told me he came from motives of
curiosity the first time, as he had been told we knew nothing

Imperishable Letters

about religion, but now that he saw us reading from books and
praying and singing he was convinced ours was a good religion.

‘“At several of the native towns where we remained on
Sundays, and service was read, the natives attended, squatting
in a circle, and remaining always quiet and observant.

‘ “ The language of the Court of Kongo is the original
African, Muxicongo. There is also a secret language, called
Enkimba, employed by the chiefs. Portuguese is employed
only in dealing with the factories 1 on the river, and in corre-
spondence with the Governor of Loanda, or the Chiefs of
Bembe, or Ambriz.

‘ “ The old king strongly expressed his hopes to me that
some English (white men) would come to them.”

‘ It is, therefore, a great satisfaction and a high and
sacred pleasure to me to offer one thousand pounds, if
the Baptist Missionary Society will undertake at once to
visit these benighted, interesting people with the blessed
light of the Gospel, teach them to read and write, and
give them in imperishable letters the words of eternal
truth. By-and-by, possibly, we may be able to extend
the mission eastwards on the Congo, at a point above the
rapids.

‘ But, however that may be, I hope that soon we shall
have a steamer on the Congo, if it should be found
requisite, and carry the Gospel eastwards, and south and
north of the river, as the way may open, as far as Nyangwe.
The London Missionary Society take twenty miles west
of Lake Tanganyika.

‘Yours in the Lord,

‘Robert Arthington.’

In a subsequent letter, replying to inquiries from the
Committee as to the advisability of sending out a

Trading establishments are called factories.

On the Lower Congo

preliminary party to explore the region referred to, Mr.
Arthington wrote —

‘ It is to the King of Kongo, and the existing com-
munities of the ancient Christian Romanish civilization,
now decayed, at San Salvador, of the country called
Kongo, that I have so long and so strongly desired to
send, in all its life-giving freshness, the Word of God,
and to give them in their own tongue, never to be
forgotten, the words of Jesus and His Apostles.

‘Then, besides that, I want to be on the Congo
River by-and-by (when we get the intelligent interest
and co-operation of the King of Kongo), above the
rapids, and sail the messengers of the everlasting Gospel
on the mighty river up as far as Nyangwe.

‘ Does not God call us by His providential indica-
tions to attempt great things for His Christ and the
Gospel ?

‘ God is over all, and we may depend upon it He
intends now to open out Africa to Christian evangeliza-
tion. Think of the thousands of souls come across by
Cameron, west of Tanganyika. Are these to live and
die without the knowledge of the all-precious Gospel ?
Nay, hardly so. In my opinion, it would be wise, with-
out delay, to send a man, most prayerfully chosen, full
of faith and love, who will determinately make his way
to the King of Kongo, and ask him if he would receive
and encourage your Christian missionaries ; and, at the
same time, he should make all needful enquiries. If you
find the man and inform me, I intend at once to send
you fifty pounds to encourage you.5

Mr. Arthington’s challenge appealed to hearts that
were prepared. In his concise history of the Congo
Mission, entitled The Congo for Christ , the Rev. J. B.
Myers writes : —

The Question Settled

‘ The labours of other Societies whose representatives
had entered from the East Coast — those of the Free
Church of Scotland Mission on Lake Nyassa, the Church
Missionary Society’s Mission in Uganda, and the ex-
pedition sent out by London Missionary Society to
Lake Tanganyika — had awakened the interest of the
Christian Church generally in the evangelization of
Africa.

‘ For a long time the conviction had been strengthen-
ing in the minds of the supporters of the Baptist Society,
as the result of experience at coast stations, that their
true policy, wherever practicable, was to penetrate into
the interior, where the Gospel might be preached un-
hindered by the hostile influence of demoralizing traders.
The opinion strongly expressed by many, pre-eminently
by Dr. Livingstone, who was continuously calling upon
missionaries ‘ to leave the unhealthy, fever-stricken, trade-
cursed tribes on the coast,’ created a readiness to embrace
any favourable opportunity for work in inland regions.
In pursuance of this desire, special journeys at this very
time were being made from the Cameroons stations, to
ascertain if it were possible to enter the interior from
that part of Western Africa.’

The publication of Mr. Arlington’s letters, and the
almost simultaneous announcement of Stanley’s sensa-
tional achievement, as Grenfell puts it, ‘ settled the
question of the Congo Mission.’ Upon consideration,
it was decided by the Committee that Providence had
elected and equipped the pioneers of the new enterprise,
in the persons of Grenfell and Comber, who were doing
such distinguished work at Cameroons, and panting to
find their way from the coast to the interior of Africa.
In due course an invitation was despatched to them to
take up this work. Reference has been already made

On the Lower Congo

to the enthusiasm with which they received what was to
them their Master’s summons to go forward. It was in
the afternoon of January 5, 1878, that the great, but not
wholly unexpected news, arrived. In the evening of the
same day Grenfell wrote the following reply : —

‘Yours of the 15th November is to hand by the s.s.
“ Congo,” which arrived this afternoon. You will have
learned from my letter of the 16th ult., that the topic of
your communication, which I have just received, is not
before me for the first time, and so I may, without
apparent rashness, venture at once to reply.

‘You will also have gathered that I am deeply
interested in this matter of the Congo Mission, and that
I am not only willing to comply with the Committee’s
request, but that I am eager to go, and shall be very
happy to be associated with Mr. Comber in the work.
The decision of the Committee to undertake this new
effort we feel to be the right one, and pray most earnestly
that it may prove to be so. God seems to hold out far
more glorious prospects of success there than appear to
be possible here. The difficulties there may, indeed,
appear less because they are farther off than those by
which we are surrounded here. However, if I stayed
here I should never give up trying to open a way for
the Gospel ; and though the difficulties there may, on
closer acquaintance, prove even greater than those at
Cameroons, I should still try, for the victory is sure. It
may not, perhaps, be in my time ; but I hope, as long as
I have breath, God will count me worthy to fight, and to
help in the bringing about of that good time which is so
surely coming.

‘ From the Herald, I had thought the intention of the
Committee was to send a pioneering party to San
Salvador, which, after accomplishing its purpose, was to

Pioneers Commissioned 99

await, at Cameroons or elsewhere, a reply to the report
sent home. From your letter I gather that those who
go should be prepared to settle down at once, and that
it is wished, in case the work should give promise of
success, that operations should be immediately com-
menced. This latter I conceive to be the better plan,
and I should be quite prepared to adopt it.

‘ I cannot but think it very kind that the Committee
thought well to consider my wishes in this matter of
joining the “ Congo Expedition.” They will have learned
ere this that their wish quite accords with my own, and
that I shall enter into the work with all my heart.

‘ I sincerely pray, and rely upon the prayers of those
at home, that God’s blessing may be given us who go,
and that it may attend our every effort in this new work.
It is a special work, needing special abilities, which
God alone can bestow. We ask your prayers, that these
gifts may be ours.1

Comber wrote the day following, saying that he had
read Mr. Baynes’ important letter with Grenfell ; that so
long as he might work among the ‘ real heathen ’ he did
not mind whether it was in Congo or the interior of the
Cameroons ; that he was sorry to forego settlement in
Bakundu, for which he had made preparations ; but that
now he threw his whole heart into the Congo Mission.
His letter concludes with the words : ‘ I am not my own,
nor am I out here for my own purposes and ends ; and in
all my movements, especially in such a deeply important
one as I feel this to be, I look up to our gracious
Master to fulfil His promise, “I will guide thee with
Mine eye,” and to make all things work together for the
everlasting good of souls and His own eternal day.’

A few days later the s.s. ‘ Elmina ’ called at Came-
roons, bound for the Congo, and Grenfell and Comber

ioo On the Lower Congo

seized the opportunity of paying a flying visit to the
threshold of their new sphere of service.

As to this, Grenfell writes : ‘ Some of our friends in
England will perhaps think we went off on a wild-goose
chase, but you know I should not enter into such a work
as the projected one on the Congo by halves, and so, as
soon as the request of the Committee was laid before us,
and while they were waiting for our reply, upon a steamer
opportunely “ turning up,” we took passage to the Congo
with the intention of utilizing the interim that would
necessarily elapse before receiving definite instructions,
by spying out the land, and learning what facilities could
be relied on for aiding us to attain the object aimed at
by the Committee. Well, eight days’ passage brought
us to the mouth of the river that has so recently yielded
up its mystery. It was not with feelings of overweening
confidence that we went ashore, for as there were only
three houses at the landing-point — Banana — -and neither
of them English, it would have been too bold a stroke
to have made sure of a welcome reception. One trading
house was French, one Dutch, the other Portuguese. Of
Dutch and Portuguese neither of us knew a word, and
while we both knew enough French to keep us from
starving, it was not very likely that we could make our
object in visiting the place satisfactorily evident.

‘These fears about our reception did not last long,
for I discovered that there was an English doctor engaged
by the Dutch firm, which has nearly fifty European
employees at that one place. This Dr. Jones proved to
be a gentleman whose acquaintance I had made in the
Cameroons River, and he at once gave me an intro-
duction to his chief, who received us cordially, and
entered fully into our plans. The next day the “ Zaire,”
a small steamer (one of five belonging to the Dutch

THE ATLANTIC ASPECT OF THE BEACH AT BANANA POINT,
CONGO MOUTH.

GRENFELL STARTING IN 1878 WITH FIRST B.M.S. MISSION TO
SAN SALVADOR.

•

■

IOI

The Congo Visited

Company) was at our disposal, and we went up as far as
Ponta-de-Lehna, where we stayed all night, and tried
to sleep, but mosquitoes in myriads made the attempt
abortive. The next day we went on to Boma or Em-
bomma, and on the third day reached Musuko, where
our land journey will commence. Here our Dutch
friends have a factory which we can use as a depot for
our stores and such things as we do not need to take
with us, while we make our first run to San Salvador,
some eight days’ journey to the south-east. So you see
our way is opening up, in God’s providence, gloriously.
I trust our sanguine hopes will be sustained by our
experience. We should have made the attempt to reach
San Salvador when we were at Musuko, but the heaviest
rains were just commencing ; so we contented ourselves
with writing to Dom Pedro the Fifth (as the monarch
styles himself, after his Portuguese patron), and with
obtaining information about carriers, food supplies, and
goods needed for barter with natives. Thus, having
done as much as we could, made some friends, and in a
measure prepared the way, we started to return, and
reached Cameroons again after little more than a month’s
absence.’

The information succinctly given in the foregoing
extract from a private letter is given with greater detail
in official communications, from which two additional
notes of interest may be quoted. ‘We learn here
(Banana) that Father Bonaventura made a journey from
Ambriz a year or fourteen months ago, to San Salvador,
for the purpose of “ baptizing ” and marrying some of
the people. He, like Lieutenant Grandy, returned vid
Embomma. We also hear that the Roman Catholics
are intending to reoccupy San Salvador. They have
bought a fine site at Embomma, and will, it is expected,

102 On the Lower Congo

commence operations at an early date. Their Mission
at San Antonio — close here — was broken up a short
while ago in consequence of difficulties with the natives.’

As regards the aspect of the country, Grenfell writes :
‘ The country, so far as we have seen it, is very different
from Cameroons — the interminable forest here gives
place to grass-covered hills and scenery of the most
picturesque description. As far as Embomma the river
is ascended by any one of several channels formed
by the many islands of the lower reaches. Beyond
Embomma the river is confined to one bed between
steep hills, and, as far as Musuko, averaging a quarter
to half a mile in width. Here, of course, the current
runs very swiftly. It brought the “Zaire” at times,
notwithstanding her great power, almost to a standstill.’

Yet again, February 3, ‘ The return mail steamer
“ Elmina ” has just come in here (Banana), and after a
stay of an hour and a half or so, will go north again,
taking Mr. Comber and myself back to Cameroons. Mr.
Comber, I am thankful to say, is much better ; the small
ulcers on his legs and feet have entirely disappeared.
This trip seems to have done us both much good.’

On returning to Cameroons the missionaries were
well occupied during the remainder of their stay. There
were additional journeyings, preachings, and baptisms,
besides the anxious duty of preparing for the mission
they were about to undertake. There were also fare-
wells to be said, and as Grenfell’s life was so much
concerned with boats and travel, his feelings in relation
to the two craft he was leaving behind are worthy of
record. Referring to a boat in which he made his second
journey to Edea, and of which he was enclosing a
photograph to his correspondent, the Rev. R. H. Powell,
he says —

Boats, well Beloved 103

‘ I’ve lived many a week and travelled some thousands
of miles in her, but I suppose I’ve made my last use of
her, as I am going South, and shall leave her here on
the old beat She’s nearly worn out, and can’t possibly
serve as often for a pulpit in the future as she has done
in the past. I’ve sailed and pulled across the thirty
miles of sea between Victoria and Fernando Po, and
have often been in such close quarters that we could not
use oars, but had to use canoe paddles ; and once, I
remember, we had to widen a deep but very narrow
stream for more than a quarter of a mile, to let her pass,
or else go back more than twenty miles. I’ve become
quite attached to her, and to the steamer too. I’ve never
worked so hard, or got so black, or perspired so much
as I have done when acting as engineer and general
utility man on board our little paddle-boat. It’s a case
of mother’s best love for her most troublesome child ;
and you’ve no idea how troublesome a high-pressure
compound engine and boiler can prove to an amateur
engineer. And yet I’m sorry to leave her. I wish I could
take her to the Congo ; but it is impossible, as she is not
powerful enough for that terrific current. I’d steam her
all the way down myself, if she had but the requisite
power to be of use when she got down. I’ve had to put
new tubes in the boiler, and I’ve fitted steering gear in
the bows, so that when steering at night the man at the
wheel could see plainly where he was going, a thing he
could not possibly do when he was astern and looking
ahead beyond the engine lights. I did this, after carrying
the mast away one night against an overhanging branch
in one of the creeks. This accident cut short the career
of the first mast which I fitted : the second, thanks to
the new steering apparatus, is still in use.

‘She is a very comfortable craft to live in, and is

104 On the Lower Congo

fitted up very completely ; has a cook’s galley (very
important item that) which would be sure to come into
requisition when on a journey, at daylight, for my cup of
coffee ; next thing would be to wash the deck and clean
the brass-work ; then breakfast must be thought about ;
this would sometimes be before, and sometimes after,
reading and prayers. Saturday was always a busy day,
if spent on board. It’s great fun to see the boys washing
their clothes, beating them with a spanner, and making
the soapsuds fly about, in their attempts to ensure a
somewhat decent appearance on Sunday.

4 One night when coming round from Victoria I
brought a sick man, a German naturalist, who came out
to procure botanical specimens. Poor fellow, he only
lived a couple of hours, and before I had got one fourth
of the way to Cameroons, he was no more. His friends
on board the German ship in the river were greatly
grieved, when I anchored alongside next day to deliver
my sad freight. So you see there are lovers of science
as well as lovers of Christ willing to make martyrs of
themselves for their love. If lovers of Nature are ready
to do so much, how much more ought we to be ready to
do for God, to whom we owe so great a debt ! ’

On March 29 the final instructions of the Committee
were received, with ample stores, and it was hoped that
Grenfell and Comber would be able to proceed south by
the same mail; but as the ‘Roquelle’ remained in port but
a few hours, and brought Grenfell a big consignment of
business, a confessedly frantic rush on his part failed, and
with much immediate regret the missionaries resigned
themselves to a few weeks more of busy waiting. The
long wait diminished their band of chosen helpers ; but
Comber regarded this as akin to Gideon’s sifting, and
on June 28 they left Cameroons in the s.s. ‘Volta,’

Pfere le Berre

105

and reached Banana on July 4. The weather cooled
immensely on their voyage south, and the lower tem-
perature proved bracing.

4 We had a pleasant, healthy passage down, and are
all the better for eight days on the sea. Although per-
fectly well at Cameroons, each day of the travelling
seemed to bring me increased strength, and I certainly
do not think I was ever better in my life than I am now.
Among our fellow-passengers was one Jesuit priest,
travelling from Gaboon to Landana — P&re le Berre, a
sort of bishop. We were placed vis-a-vis at table, and
so frequently got into conversation, although he seemed
to know nothing of English. With our slight acquaint-
ance with French, and the tendency to use Dualla words,
the conversation was very stumbling, although Mr. Gren-
fell managed it much better than I. We at first feared
that he made the journey as a spy upon us, but that
impression was removed before we parted. Although he
asked a few questions about us and our intentions, he
seemed only desirous to make himself agreeable. Ask-
ing about our denominational practices and opinions,
and hearing that we only baptized those who believe, he
spoke up for infant sprinkling, although he did not base
anything upon Scripture. Screwing up his small eyes,
and cocking his head on one side like a canary, he said,
“ Ah, petits enfants ! Dieu content ; Dieu les aime.”
Acknowledging that there was no Scriptural warrant for
the practice, he felt that it must be acceptable and pleas-
ing to God. He only mentioned San Salvador once,
asking if we were going there/

The diminished company included two teachers (Ebolu
and Epea), one Portuguese interpreter, two Kru boys,
one Cameroons boy from the Mission, and two small
personal boys (Ti and Cam). Jack also, a donkey,

xo6 On the Lower Congo

deserves mention, from whom Comber expected great
things, and whom he desired to have accounted as ‘on
the staff.’ This revealed a Christian spirit on Comber’s
part, for Jack had kicked him in the chest, and used to
make extraordinary efforts to unseat him. But, ignoring
the ill and rejoicing in the good, he eulogizes the beast,
who is ‘none of your miserable Hampstead Heath
donkeys,’ and ‘ always goes at a trot or gallop.’

The little expedition was cordially received by the
friendly authorities of the Dutch house at Banana, and
shortly after proceeded up the river in their own boat.

At Musuko they were delayed by the non-arrival of
expected carriers from San Salvador. Impatient of
waiting, they obtained thirty-five recruits from the dis-
trict of Musuko, and commenced the overland march to
San Salvador on July 30. On the way they were met by
fifty men, whom the King of Kongo had sent to convoy
them. These were allowed to pass on to Musuko, to
bring up stores which had been left behind. The march
was easy and uneventful. Food was procured without
difficulty. The rivers to be crossed were not serious
obstacles, except to ‘ Jack.’

‘ The greatest physical difficulty in travelling, owing
to the narrowness of the path, was the tall, thick grass,
reaching in many places fifteen feet in height.’

The hundred miles from Musuko to San Salvador
was covered in eight days, and the visitors were heartily
welcomed by the King and people, notwithstanding the
presence of the Jesuit, Padre Lazaro, who had forestalled
them. The King was accustomed to spend much time
in sitting in the courtyard outside his house, and here
the reception took place.

‘ Pedro Finga ’ (the head man of the caravan) ‘ intro-
ducing us to his Majesty, went down upon his knees, and

Bom Pedro’s Reception 107

seemed struck with awe and reverence ; and most of
those who interviewed his Majesty rubbed dust on their
foreheads, and clapped hands long and vigorously. We
found Dom Pedro, or Ntotela as he is called by his
people, sitting outside his house, his chair placed on an
old piece of carpet. Taking off our hats as we approached,
we shook hands with the King, and inquired after his
welfare. He placed chairs for his English guests, and
seemed glad to see us.’

The missionaries were pleased to learn that the
presence of the Jesuit father had not diminished the
King’s desire that they should establish a station in San
Salvador, and that his promises of countenance and
protection were all that could be desired. But they were
bent on reaching Stanley Pool ; and after three weeks’
stay at San Salvador started for Makuta, an important
district of which they had heard from passing parties of
traders. The King, whose reluctance to consent to their
departure had been overcome, supplied them with carriers.
They also secured the services of Matoko, who had been
with Lieutenant Grandy upon his expedition, and had
obtained a good record. At Moila their carriers declined
to proceed ; but the chief of Moila supplied them with
others. Four days’ further march brought them to
Tungwa, the most important of the Makuta towns. As
they looked down upon it from a hill they were much
impressed by its trim sightliness, and sent ambassadors
to the King of Makuta, intimating their desire to pass
through his country. The answer was favourable, and
the expedition put on its best clothes and proceeded.

‘As we strode down the hill and crossed the river,
which is about twenty feet wide and from two to six feet
deep, more of the inhabitants gathered about us, curious
and fearless, but not impertinent ; and we followed our

108 On the Lower Congo

good friend Matoko into the centre of the town, and
found that the people were in a great state of excited
curiosity. Some hundreds formed a half-circle at the
front of the house under the eaves of which we sat, and
they were eagerly pressing upon one another, and gazing
at us with that intense wondering gaze which I had
before encountered in interior Cameroons. One fine-
looking old woman especially interested me. She took
her pipe from her mouth, and looked at us long and
silently, with piercing eyes and half-opened mouth ; and
this old woman was nearly always amongst the crowd,
constantly sitting at a respectful distance from our tent,
during the four days of our stay at Tungwa. It was
interesting and pleasant, too, to see the frequent family
resemblances between one and another, a thing I had
not noticed before in Africa, except among a few Came-
roons families. But most interesting were the children.
Some half a dozen boys, about eight to twelve years of
age, with frank, open faces, bright, lustrous eyes, and
well-formed heads, I became quite attached to, and
longed to have the task of teaching and training into
disciples of Christ. We found these boys to be very
quick and intelligent, when we tried to teach them.

‘After waiting about half an hour, the! son of the
Soba made his appearance, dressed in a red-and-black
plaid wound round his body and over his shoulders, a
military coat, and a military cocked hat. He advanced
slowly to the sound of drums and bugles, his people form-
ing an avenue at his approach. When he reached within
a dozen paces, he stepped briskly forward from the
umbrella held over him, and lifting his hat and making
a good bow, shook hands with us. He had come to
conduct us to the Soba, his father, by whom we were
grandly received ; indeed, in a more stately manner

TREE AT SAN SALVADOR ON WHICH GRENFELL AND ON THE ROAD TO SAN SALVADOR-

COMBER CUT THEIR INITIALS IN 1878. CROSSING A SWAMP.

Photo : Rev. W- Wooding. Photo: Rev. H. Ross Phillips.

• ,:'16 !

Welcomed, but Foiled 109

than by the King of Kongo. He was sitting on a
bamboo native chair, dressed much in the same style as
his son, and was surrounded by musicians. He rose
from his seat on our approach and advanced to meet us,
while his band made such a deafening noise that our
efforts to speak to him were in vain. The musical
instruments consisted of some large drums, about six
cornets and bugles, and seven ivory horns. These horns
were each of a whole tusk, and gave forth very soft,
sweet sounds. As he had nothing but leopard skins to
offer us to sit upon, and the music was almost too much,
we retired, asking him to visit us in our tent. This he
did, with his son, soon after, when we explained why we
had come. He thought we were traders, and had come
from Ambriz to buy his ivory, and seemed scarcely to
believe us, when we said we had never bought a single
tusk, and only wanted to teach black men what was
good. He had had no experience of missionaries before.*
But though kindly received by the King of Makuta,
Grenfell and Comber found their main purpose foiled.
He would neither assist nor even permit their further
progress toward the Upper Congo. It only remained
for them to retrace their steps to San Salvador. They
were most cordially received by the King, and their
determination to make San Salvador the base station of
the mission was confirmed. The preliminary expedition
having so far fulfilled its purpose, Comber returned to
England, to report, and Grenfell went to Victoria,
Cameroons. Here he married his second wife, Miss Rose
Patience Edgerley, who subsequently accompanied him
in many of his most adventurous journeys ; and here for
a time he resided, occupied in trading, and in finishing
his explorations of the Cameroons country ; his formal
connection with the mission being temporarily severed.

no On the Lower Congo

Though the story overruns itself a little, I allow
Grenfell to summarize the proceedings of the mission in
the matter of further pioneering on the Lower Congo,
adding one or two necessary notes. The history is
extremely condensed ; but it embodies descriptive details
of importance, which, with the accompanying map (see
page 90), will carry the reader through the cataract region.

To avoid interrupting Grenfell’s narrative, it may be
stated here that at the end of 1880 he re-entered the
service of the Mission, to the great joy of his colleagues,
who were in sore need of the practical gifts with which
he was so opulently endowed. After consultation at San
Salvador, he set about the erection of necessary buildings
at Musuko, and rendered unique service in the establish-
ment of stations, intermediate between Musuko and
Stanley Pool.

In the article already quoted from, published in the
Missionary Herald, , September 1882, Grenfell states that
Comber’s visit to England, which was an important event
in the history of the Mission, ‘ secured more help in the
persons of Messrs. Crudgington, Hartland, and Bentley,
who, together with Mrs. Comber, made up the missionary
band of five that sailed in the June of 1879’ ; and pro-
ceeds : ‘ Before the autumn had set in, ,a station was
established at San Salvador, and this was followed
immediately by the great sorrow which fell upon our
Brother Comber in the loss of his dear wife.

* A year later, and after twelve different attempts
to reach Stanley Pool by way of Kinsuka, Ndanga,
Zombo, and Makuta, Mr. Comber was shot by the
natives of this last-named place, and narrowly escaped
with his life. After this determined opposition it was
felt impossible to do more in this direction, so a new
route on the north bank was successfully tried by Messrs.

Reinforcements

I I I

Crudgington and Bentley, who reached Stanley Pool in
February of last year, 1881.

‘ The great natural waterway into the heart of Africa
being proved to be accessible, more help was earnestly
asked for, and six new men were voted to reinforce the
Congo Mission, It was also decided to commence the
building of the steamer, the funds for which had been so
nobly provided by Mr. Arthington. Mr. Dixon, the first
of the six new brethren, sailed in August of last year,
together with Mr. Crudgington, in the same mail which
carried our steel boat the “ Plymouth.” Messrs. Weeks
and Butcher followed, and are now upon the spot. Last
month Messrs. Moolenaar and Hughes set sail in the
“ Benguela,” and are, we hope, well on their way to help
the brethren who look so anxiously for their arrival.
Mr. Doke, the last of the six, is now engaged in making
himself acquainted with the construction of the new
steamer, the “ Peace.” He is hoping to sail on the nth
of October, by which time it is expected our little steam
vessel will be ready for shipment.

4 It was hoped at one time that San Salvador would
have formed a link in a chain of stations connecting the
lower with the upper river ; but, the road in that direc-
tion being barred, that idea has been relinquished,
another route decided upon, and an independent chain
of stations formed. As we cannot pass through the
cataract region at a single bound, seeing that it extends
200 miles or more, stations have been built at convenient
distances. These will serve as depots for barter goods
and stores, and also as resting-places for those who are
journeying. They are also centres for Christian work,
and places from which the kindly influences of the
missionary can be brought to bear upon the prejudices
that exist in the hearts of the natives against the white

1X2

On the Lower Congo

man — prejudices which so effectually close their hearts
against the messages of love and mercy sent by Christ.

‘ In the sight of these poor people we are brethren to
those whose dealings with them have been marked by
such cruelty ; brethren to those who are at the bottom of
all the untold horrors of the slave trade. To these
natives it is quite inconceivable that we can have any
good purpose in our hearts concerning them. They are
very naturally suspicious at first, and unwilling to help,
lest in helping they find at last they have only been
binding yokes on their own necks. It is only by
missionaries living amongst these people, and proving
to them what manner of men they are, that these
suspicions will be overcome, and a way be opened to
their hearts and confidences.

‘ The first link in our chain of stations, hitherto, has
been at Musuko. This has served as our base of opera-
tions, and as a depot for all the goods required for the
carrying on of up-country work. As all payments are
made in cotton goods, beads, knives, or other bulky
forms of money, our store-room is necessarily very large,
and much more trouble to look after than a cash-box or
a cheque-book. From San Salvador, a distance of about
ninety miles, carriers come down by land for the needful
supplies. From our station at Isangila, the second link
in our chain of riverside stations, where Mr. Hartland
is in charge, the distance to Musuko is about seventy
miles. Two-thirds of this journey is performed by land ;
the other third, between Vivi and Musuko, by water.
From Isangila to Manyanga, our most advanced station,
the distance is about seventy- five miles. This distance
at first was traversed by land through the Basundi
country, where the people are so intractable and un-
friendly that they were characterized by Stanley as the

Routes and Houses 113

worst type of negro he had ever encountered. But since
the kind gift of our “ Plymouth ” boat by a Plymouth
friend, this journey is now performed by water, and
without coming in contact with the troublesome Basundi.
The boat, with a crew of eight or ten men, can do the
journey in the same time as would be occupied in
going overland ; it can take up as much cargo as forty
carriers ; and, were it not needful to unload the boat in
passing round some of the bad points, and to carry the
loads for short distances over the rocks, the journey could
be made in much less time — returning takes only a day
and a half. As soon as Messrs. Moolenaar and Hughes
reach the Congo, Messrs. Comber and Bentley will be
relieved at Manyanga, and they will then proceed inland
for the purpose of establishing our station at Stanley
Pool, and of preparing for the arrival of the steamer.

‘ At present, San Salvador is our only station which
can boast of anything like a permanent building. Here
we have a substantial stone house. At our other stations,
the houses are built of the same materials as are used by
the natives, but in rather a better style, and more roomy.
The walls are built by nailing the stems of palm fronds
in horizontal rows upon posts fixed in the ground, suit-
able spaces being left for windows and doors. The roofs
are very effectually covered with grass.

* From Mr. Comber’s last letter, published in the June
Herald , it will be gathered how great were the difficulties
of land transport between Vivi and Isangila. It was
hoped at one time that these difficulties would have
been overcome, but instead of this they have gradually
thickened, and have decided our brethren to adopt a
modification of their route. After due deliberation, it
has been found desirable to move our base higher up
the river to Wanga Wanga, which, while it is equally

1 14 On the Lower Congo

accessible with Musuko from San Salvador, has the
advantage of being at the commencement of a south-
bank route to Stanley Pool, and this Musuko has not,
with regard to our present route, seeing that twenty
miles or so of bad waterway lie between that point
and the commencement of the land journey at Vivi,
where Stanley’s road begins.

‘ By starting at Wanga Wanga, and joining the route
followed by our brethren of the L.I.M. (Livingstone
Inland Mission) at the Mpozo ferry, and passing through
their stations at Palabala and Banza Manteka and on to
Bayneston, we reach a point on the river above Isangila,
and beyond two dangerous cataracts which lie in the
course between that place and Manyanga. In adopting
this route we have a few more miles to walk, but we pass
through a populous country where both food and carriers
are to be obtained, and we save the bad water journeys
below Vivi and between Isangila and Bayneston. If the
two missions use the same path, we shall each secure the
advantages of resting-places at shorter intervals than
would be possible were the stations spread over two
distinct routes. We shall also be nearer help in cases of
emergency, and otherwise be able to render mutual
assistance, which, we trust, will be of service in carrying
on the work so near the hearts of both.

‘Our latest news of Mr. Crudgington (from Mr.
Butcher’s letter dated Musuko, June 15), tells of his
being engaged in building the new premises at Wanga
Wanga. Our latest news of Messrs. Comber and
Hartland we learn from Mr. Clark, of the L.I.M., who
speaks of their having called at Palabala on May 12,
when on their way up to Bayneston, to arrange for
ground and to commence building there. This being
accomplished, Mr. Comber was going on to Manyanga,

The Pope’s Bull 115

where he intended staying with Mr. Bentley till rein-
forcements arrived, so as to allow of their proceeding
up country. From Mr. Bentley news has been received
of several successful journeys of the “ Plymouth.” She
reached Manyanga for the first time on March 2 8.
From Messrs. Dixon and Weeks, at San Salvador, the
latest tidings are very hopeful. The schools now boast
better attendances, but, as the rainy season is interfering
with the services held under the King’s Council-tree,
they are having a meeting-place covered in, so that
they may be able to hold their gatherings the rain
notwithstanding.

4 Having thus summarized the past history of our
Congo Mission, our intentions and future plans now
very naturally suggest themselves. It may now be
taken for granted that it is decided to maintain San
Salvador, and to occupy ;in addition three stations —
Wanga Wanga, Bayneston, and Manyanga, and also
to establish a station at Stanley Pool as soon as that is
possible.

‘ Now, while the stations along the river are centres
from which, we trust, the light of Christian truth will
radiate far and wide, they are themselves only a means
to an end, that end being the formation of a line of
communication between the thinly-peopled district of the
lower river and the populous region of the Central
Congo, where our Society looks for a sphere of much
more abundant usefulness.’

Several letters of Grenfell during this period tell of
the missions of the Jesuits, ‘who have again secured the
active co-operation of the Portuguese Government, and
are now acting upon the terms of the special Bull issued
by the Pope with regard to Protestant Mission work in
Central Africa, that “ the movements of the heretics

n6 On the Lower Congo

are to be followed up, and their efforts harassed and
destroyed.” 5

I conclude this chapter with extracts from a letter
dating from Isangila, in July, 1881, and with Grenfell’s
account of the establishment of the station at Manyanga.

4 Here at Isangila, where we take to the river for
seventy or eighty miles, we have built a rough sort of
station, and are busy preparing for another move ahead ;
but as our boat (which is to come out in pieces) has not
arrived yet, we are going by land, and in this rough
country it will take a week’s hard walking to reach
Manyanga, where our next station is to be fixed.

‘We hope to make a start about August io. Mr.
Bentley has gone down to Musuko for rice and a few
things, and when he comes up he will join Mr. Comber
and myself in our proposed journey. Mr. Comber
intends staying at Manyanga, Bentley and I return here,
where Bentley will stay awhile, and I shall go down to
Musuko. I left Musuko three weeks ago (that is, for
the last trip), and am expecting it will be five weeks
more ere I manage to get back. There is so much to
do that time passes very quickly.

‘ It is just possible that by the time I get back I may
meet instructions from the Committee to proceed to
England, to see about the proposed new steamer. The
men out here have all written Mr. Baynes, saying I must
be sent for to look after getting the thing that is wanted.
But I can’t leave till more men are out — we aren’t half
enough for the work in hand, and it won’t do for another
of us to clear out before reinforcements have arrived.
It is also possible that the Committee will decide
not to send for me, so you must not rely upon my
turning up in the old country again before you hear
something more definite. . . .

Steeper than Malvern 117

c Our new station here is close to the falls, which kick
up a tremendous din day and night : the roar is some-
thing terrific. I sometimes wake up with a start, when a
gust of wind in this direction makes it specially audible.
The nearest town is a mile away, so that the needs of
our transit service have been considered before the
advisability of building among the people. We must be
on the spot where our boats take to the water. Our
object is not so much the few scattered people here, as
the great central population.

‘ You will have heard about the Roman Catholics
following us to San Salvador. They are now busy
trying to reach Stanley Pool, and will very likely succeed.
A fortnight ago one of their men left here on his second
attempt. He had thirty carriers, all armed with guns.
Of course he can’t do much the first time he gets up.
He will want to take up a lot of things before he can
settle down and commence a Mission. The heart of
Africa is big enough for us all, but it seems as though
the Roman Catholics were bent on treading on our heels
wherever we turn, and not upon an independent course
of their own. . . .

‘ Another P.S., just to give you an idea of the three
days’ walk from Vivi here. I may tell you that we have
to cross six hills, each of them higher and steeper than
Malvern, having only miserable ruts instead of roads.
I’m getting used to them, and so they don’t appear so
long as at first’

The story of the establishment of the station at
Manyanga is told in a letter to Mr. Baynes, dated
August 19 —

* My last advised you that Mr. Bentley and I intended
to start for this place, and how, on account of serious
sickness, Mr. Comber was compelled to relinquish his

ii8 On the Lower Congo

intention of accompanying us. We are glad to report
the realization of our purpose in our arrival here yesterday
morning.

‘ We left Isangila just a week ago, and made a rapid
march through the Basundi district ; and since our arrival
we have not lost much time, as you will judge when I
tell you that the ground for our station is already appor-
tioned to us by the native chiefs, who reside some three
or four miles away, and who came down with nearly a
hundred followers. Presents have been interchanged,
and the whole bargain settled in the most satisfactory
manner for about two pounds’ worth of goods. Our
terrain is separated by a small brook of fine water from
that occupied by the Belgian expedition, which is a
splendidly commanding position on the top of an isolated
hill 250 feet high. Ours is much less pretentious, but
promises to be very convenient ; it is on a slight eleva-
tion, some fifty feet above flood-water mark. The
natives are most friendly and well-behaved, and are a
remarkable contrast to their neighbours, the unamiable
Basundi. The first question they put to us was, “Do
you buy slaves ? ” and they appeared relieved and quite
satisfied with our denial. The memories of the old men-
stealing horrors seem still to haunt them.

‘ Upon our arrival here we found Pere Augouard thus
far on his return from Stanley Pool. He told me that,
being a Frenchman, the chief of Nshasha, in conformity
with Count de Brazza’s instructions, was willing to allow
him to build, but that determined resistance will be
made, on the part of the people, to the settlement there
of those of other nationalities.

‘Upon Mr. Stanley’s arrival there, some little time
in advance of the “ P&re,” he tried to make arrange-
ments for a station on the southern bank, staying the

Barefaced Robbers 119

meantime with his old friend Nga Liema, of “ big goat ”
fame. P&re Augouard did not cross to the south side.
Mr. Stanley's failure to “ set ” the palaver at once has not
deterred him from prosecuting the work of carrying up
boats and stores — this is going on as vigorously as ever.

‘Although the journey to Manyanga by land may
be quickly and successfully made, it is not for a moment
to be supposed that it is a feasible route for the regular
transmission of supplies. We had a little experience
with several types of African character, but never before
met such people as the Basundi. It will be a very
pressing call to assure me that it is my duty to undertake
the land journey to Manyanga again, and to encounter
its worries and anxieties. Caravans taking cargo would
only be safe when heavily armed. The Basundi, when
encountered in small parties, run away and hide ; when
in companies they will rob you in the most barefaced
manner, and laugh when accused, and the fact brought
home to them. Nothing is safe, from bales of cloth
down to cooking-pot covers, if they can only get a chance
of laying their hands upon them, and there is no know-
ing to what lengths a yelling mob may go when once a
spark is kindled. The water-way between Isangila and
Manyanga, though a bad and dangerous one, must be
worked, if we are to maintain the proposed up-country
stations. It offers little or no advantage in the way of
speed in going up river, but the dangers of the water are
less to be feared than the people. A good boat is
needful, and I trust by this time is on the way out, so
that we may speedily hope to keep Manyanga efficiently
supplied, and provide for further inland movements, as
well as to relieve brother Bentley, who is staying to
commence the station, in the hope that help is close to
hand.

120

On the Lower Congo

‘The next English mail leaves Banana on September 2,
and I am very anxious that it should take news of our
proceedings, so I intend starting off again this afternoon
to “ post ” the news. I have over 140 miles of walking
to do, and after that more than a hundred to go down
river in our boat, which is waiting for me at Vivi.

4 It will be very encouraging to you, my dear Mr.
Baynes, to find our proposed stations being gradually
occupied ; it undoubtedly is so to us. All friends at
home will join us in thanking God and taking courage.

4 Since writing the foregoing the Portuguese gun-boat
“Bengo” has been up to Noki, leaving there a “ Major”
in charge of three houses, which have come out in
sections, for the use of the Mission at San Salvador.
He is asking for 1200 carriers to take these houses up.’

The forecast of the Isangila letter was fulfilled, and in
due course Grenfell returned to England to manage the
business of the 1 Peace.’

CHAPTER VI

THE COMING OF THE ‘PEACE’

Grenfell’s Love for the Ship— Mr. Arthington’s Gift— Return of
Grenfell to England—* Down in the Dumps ’ —Loss of the
* Ethiopia ’ — Launch of the * Peace ’ — Stanley Pool Station
Started— Dr. Stanford’s Sermon— Speech of Mr. Joseph Tritton
—Grenfell’s Speech— Speech of Mr. Doke— The Voyage Out
—Christmas Pudding— A Noah’s Ark— Arrival at Banana-
Death of Grenfell’s Child— Death of Mr. Doke— Death of Mr.
Hartland— Journey to Stanley Pool— Bad Administrations— A
Sudden Marriage.

THE ewe lamb of which the Prophet Nathan spoke
to King David was to her owner * as a daughter,1
and even as a daughter was the steamer * Peace 1 to the
heart of George Grenfell. As her story unfolds itself
we do not wonder. She was the child of his resourceful
brain. He was the overseer of her building. He super-
intended the laborious and romantic transport of her
loads. When other hands which were to have under-
taken her reconstruction lay still in death, his hands
took up the task. On her deck he explored immense
reaches of the waterways of the Dark Continent, filling
in huge blanks of its vast map. She bore him
through a thousand perils of nature and of man. For
months, which added up to years, she was the home of
his wife and babes, who accompanied him in his eventful
voyaging. Her plates and rivets were dear to him as
his own skin, and the throb of her engines was like the

i22 The Coming1 of the ‘Peace’

beating of his own heart. Her sister ships coming after
were larger, swifter craft, but she was his first love, and
his love never failed. In a moment of depression, while
the transport of her parts from Underhill to Stanley
Pool was still in process, and the Mission was half
paralyzed by strokes of death, and lack of reinforce-
ments, he could suggest or echo the suggestion, that
perhaps the Committee would do well to sell the ‘ Peace,3
and transfer the Congo men to another field. But
years after, when she had become part of his life, and
the suggestion arose as a matter of business that she
might be sold with advantage, he remarked grimly, ‘ If
they sell the “ Peace,’3 they will get rid of me too.3 Her
missionary honour was to him a thing beyond price, and
when the State seized her for purposes alien to her
holy work, his grief was passionate, as though the ship
had a character to be blasted and a soul to be stained.
And the little craft was faithful to her master. Worked
by jblack boys, whose hands he had made skilful, and
whose hearts he had won with a great and holy love, she
bore him, a dying man, upon his last short voyage, from
his lonely front station to the place where he found a
grave. It is doubtful whether any ship afloat has a
more fascinating history than that of the B.M.S. steamer
‘ Peace * : and surely in the future, when Congo conditions
have been bettered, and advances made of which Grenfell
nobly dreamed, in some State museum, a worthy model
of the ‘ Peace 3 will hold a place of honour.

But now to the story of her coming. In the summer
of 1880 the following letter was received by the Com-
mittee of the B.M.S. from their generous friend Mr,
Arthington : —

‘Dear Sirs and Christian Brethren, — I believe the
time is come when we should make every necessary

123

Mr. Arthington’s Gift

preparation to carry out the original purpose of the
Congo Mission — to place a steamer on the Congo River ,
where we can sail north-eastward into the heart of Africa
for many hundred miles uninterruptedly, and bring the
glad tidings of the everlasting Gospel to thousands of
human beings who are now ignorant of the way of life
and immortality. I have, therefore, now to offer your
Society one thousand pounds towards the purchase of
a steamer of the best make and capacity, every way
suitable for the purpose, and its conveyance and launch
on the river at Stanley Pool ; and three thousand pounds,
to be carefully invested, the interest only to be used for
the perpetual maintenance of such steamer on the Congo
and its affluents, until Christ and His salvation shall be
known all along the Congo, from Stanley Pool to the
first cataract of the equatorial cataracts of the Congo,
beyond the mouths of the Aruwimi and Mbura Rivers.’

A few months after writing this letter, Mr. Arthington
forwarded to the Treasurer the whole of the sum specified.

In July, 1 88 1, the Committee unanimously adopted
five most important recommendations, relating to the
conduct and extension of the Congo Mission, based on
the report written by Messrs. Bentley and Crudgington,
of their eventful journey to Stanley Pool, by which they
successfully opened the road, on the north bank of the
river, to the gate of the great interior navigable waterway.

The fourth of these recommendations was the follow-
ing : ‘ That, with a view to the wise and careful con-
sideration of the important question of the construction of
a suitable steam-launch for the navigation of the waters
of the Upper Congo, beyond Stanley Pool, towards the
interior, in accordance with the original plan of Mr.
Arthington, the urgent appeal of the Congo brethren be
complied with, and Mr. Grenfell be requested to visit

124 The Coming of the ‘Peace’

England, for a short season, to advise with the Committee
on this important subject ; and, should his drawings and
specifications be sanctioned by the Committee, Mr.
Grenfell to practically superintend the building of such
steam-launch, with a view to his becoming thoroughly
acquainted with its construction and management.’

In pursuance of this determination on the part of the
Committee, Grenfell returned to England toward the end
of 1 88 1, and letters available give us glimpses of his
life in the home-land while engaged upon the business of
the ‘ Peace.’

On January 8, 1882, he writes to a friend, regretting
inability to meet him during a short stay in Birmingham,
and pleading that as he is home upon a specific quest, he
can hope for no leisure until the steamer business is in
hand. Though he has written to Newcastle and Glasgow,
he thinks the work must be done in London. Two
estimates have been received, and he hopes that matters
may be settled soon. He himself is 4 not brilliant,’ has
had a touch of ague, and will be glad of a little rest.

His hopes of an early decision as regards the builders
of the steamer were realized. In the March issue of the
Missionary Herald occurs the following paragraph : —

‘ We are happy to inform our readers . . . that the
well-known steamboat builders, Messrs. Thornycroft
and Company, of Chiswick, have contracted to build a
boat suitable for the work in prospect. In our last
Herald Mr. Bentley called attention to the shallowness
of the river above Stanley Pool, and this important fact
has had to be borne in mind in planning the vessel. It
is proposed that the steamer shall be of steel, having
twin screws, for her more easy control and management
amid the currents and sand-banks of the river. Her
length will be seventy feet, and she will draw only twelve

125

Grenfell in England

inches of water. This lightness of flotation is secured by
a singularly ingenious arrangement of the screws, of
which Messrs. Thornycroft and Company are the
patentees. The contract price of the vessel, complete
and packed for transmission for the Congo, with a steel
boat and duplicates of the most important portions of
the machinery and gear, has been fixed at the extremely
low sum of ^1760. To this will have to be added about
^150 for sundry stores, so that the entire cost of the
vessel will not exceed ;£2000. Mr. Grenfell has come
home, at the request of the Committee, to watch its
progress, and to make himself thoroughly acquainted
with its management. He will thus be able to super-
intend putting its parts together when they shall arrive
at their destination.5

The arrangement here specified entailed that Grenfell
must spend a large part of his time during the follow-
ing months at Chiswick. In April he writes from an
address in Chelsea, stating that he has chosen lodgings
about half-way between Chiswick and the Mission House.
He is anticipating a fortnight’s visit to Manchester in
May, but grudges the time, as the steamer work requires
his constant attention. He speaks also of two visits to
the Crystal Palace, which have increased his store of
useful information, and forecasts the greatly extended
use of electrical power in this country. He has also
attended a conference on African Missions at Harley
House, and ‘had a good time,5 shadowed, however, by
news of losses on the Congo. This makes him anxious
concerning the burden of the next mail. ‘ Everybody
else has sad intelligence from time to time, and that we
have suffered so slightly only seems to make apprehension
the keener on our part. However, He that hath kept is
able to keep, and we are all in His hands.5

126 The Coming of the ‘Peace’

On June 2 he is in trouble, acute but not crushing.
His duties at Chiswick involved the occasional conduct
of parties of visitors. An old and dear friend had written,
desiring to meet him. At the time suggested he had
already promised ‘ to escort the party you encountered.’
He yet hoped to meet his friend, and did, but to little
purpose. Hence these tears which will secure for him
masculine sympathy and feminine censure.

‘As soon as I was on the stage, and you were off
from Charing Cross, I could have eaten my finger-ends
for having so completely lost my head. If I had not
had a party of ladies in tow, I might have acted like a
sane being. As it was, my wits went “ wool-gathering,”
and an uncomfortable morning with a bevy of “petticoats,”
has been followed by an afternoon of self-recrimination
for having slighted my oldest chum and friend. I’ve
played the fool most egregiously, and till I get a forgiving
line or two, I am yours, down in the dumps, and out of
conceit with himself, George Grenfell.’

In June Mr. W. Doke, a student of Regent’s Park
College, and a skilled engineer, was accepted by the
Committee of the Baptist Missionary Society for work
upon the Congo. It was arranged that Mr. Doke,
in co-operation with Grenfell, should undertake the
important task of reconstructing the steamer at Stanley
Pool. Preparatory to this service he became associated
with Grenfell in the oversight of the building of the
‘Peace’ at Chiswick ; and in following months the hearts
of the two men drew together, and they fondly anticipated
happy fellowship in great labours. The steamer work
proceeded swiftly. On September 7, Grenfell wrote to
a friend who proposed a visit to Chiswick : * You will
scarcely recognize the skeleton you saw some months
ago.’

The ‘ Peace ’ Finished

127

A few days later came the heavy tidings of the loss
of the ‘ Ethiopia.’ This disaster hit him hard ; but the
spirit in which he endured the disappointment is indicated
by the following paragraph of a letter to Mrs. Hartland : —

‘Yes, I know about the “Ethiopia.” ... I telegraphed
at once to Liverpool, to ask whether she was outward
or homeward bound. On Monday the owners did not
know. This morning I get news that she was outward
bound, so went down with our cargo, a heavy shipment,
and seventeen cases of extra gearing for our engines, on
board. The cloth, beads, etc., can easily be bought
again, but not so easily the engine fittings. More delay
for Doke and me. There is this consolation, that the
homeward letters are not lost, and that we may soon
expect more news.

‘ Many thanks for your verses. How sweet the con-
solation that we know that “ Jesus cares,” and “ reigns ” !
I am beginning to get a bit weary of waiting, and now
there is more delay. I need the sustaining sense of the
Lord’s abiding presence and guidance, and I praise Him
for the assurance I have that all is well.’

Before September was out the little ship was
launched, finished afloat, and on view at Westminster.
In a subsequent trip, she exhibited her paces and her
graces, not only to the Committee ©f Inspection, but also
to ‘ General Sir Arthur Cotton, Mr. Barnaby (afterwards
Sir N. Barnaby, K.C.B.), Chief Constructor of the Royal
Navy, and Mr. Rendall, one of the Lords of the Admi-
ralty. These authorities were exceedingly well pleased,
and complimented our Society upon having obtained in
the “Peace” what promised to be such a valuable
auxiliary in the carrying out of our great enterprise.’

This year (1882) the Autumnal meetings of the
Society were held in Liverpool. On Tuesday, October 3,

128 The Coming of the ‘Peace’

at a public missionary breakfast, Grenfell was one of
the speakers. The proceedings were marked by great
enthusiasm. Mr. Baynes read a letter from Mr.
Comber, ‘ reporting his recent visit to Stanley Pool, and
his successful negotiations with Mr. H. M. Stanley and
Lieutenant Braconnier, of the International Association,
for the purchase of suitable land at the Pool on which to
erect Mission buildings and a landing-stage for the new
Congo Mission steamer “ Peace,” Mr. Comber bearing
high testimony to the great kindness and generosity of
Mr. Stanley in connection with these negotiations/

It was estimated that the Stanley Pool buildings
would cost £ 500 . That amount was immediately raised,
with an additional £700 for the founding of a new
station in the interior. Following this meeting came
Dr. Stanford’s memorable sermon, bn Acts xv. 26, ‘ Men
that have hazarded their lives for the name of our Lord
Jesus Christ .’ One imagines how, when the torment of
his own speech was over, the heart of George Grenfell
was cheered that day, who had hazarded his life already,
and was destined to hazard it times without number, as
he pushed the prow of the little * Peace’ into the gloom
of Darkest Africa, bearing the light, * for the sake of the
Name.*

The taking to pieces of the ‘ Peace ’ was quickly
accomplished. At the end of October there was ‘ not
much to see beyond heaps of material and a skeleton.’
In November business and ‘ farewells ’ involved for the
missionary, whose spirits were rising as the hour of
departure approached, much journeying in the home-
land. On October 17 he is in Birmingham : on the 20th
at Sancreed, Penzance ; and in the remaining days of the
month he seems to have travelled the length of the
country two or three times.

Valedictory 129

At a farewell meeting, held at the Mission House on
December 5, the Treasurer of the Society, Joseph Tritton,
Esq., presided, and in the course of a beautiful address,
said —

‘ Mr. Grenfell, as you are aware, was recalled from
Congo at the instance of the Committee to assist them
by his mechanical genius and African experience in the
construction of the little vessel, the “Peace.” He is
returning with our friend, Mr. Doke. Mr. Doke will be
a worthy addition to the little band — a little band in
contrast to the “ great multitude of the disciples ” in
early days, but, like them, “ all of one heart and mind,”
and they carry the “ Peace ” with them. It seems rather
the reversal of the natural order of things that in this
case the brethren carry the ship, and not the ship the
brethren. Most devoutly do we hope that both will be
transported in safety to the banks of the Congo, and
that the little “ Peace,” once launched, may, in the highest
sense of the term, “ walk the waters like a thing of life ; ”
carrying, as she will, the messengers of mercy, the
messengers of peace, whose feet shall be beautiful upon
the streams, no less than upon the mountains ; carrying
the messengers with the tidings of salvation into the
dark places of that land. I cannot conceal that the
perils are many, but God is our refuge and our strength.
Let us not say that our brethren go with their lives in
their hands. No, their lives are in the hands of their
Master. We may say, as we have often said, and often
sung —

“Not a single shaft can hit,

Till the God of love sees fit.”

And so we speak our farewell words, and breathe our
parting benedictions, with all cheerfulness/

Grenfell’s speech upon this occasion was so characteristic,

130 The Coming of the ‘Peace’

and contained so much information concerning the im-
pending transport of the ‘ Peace 5 loads, that it will be
fitting and economical of space to give the full report.
He said —

‘ Some of his friends had been twitting him because,
as the time drew near for his departure, his spirits seemed
to grow lighter ; but to all intents and purposes Africa
was his home, and, seeing his business had been pro-
longed to twice its expected length, he was anxious to
get back again. Perhaps, however, his lightness was
partly the result of having dispatched from Chiswick a
large series of huge cases, the contents of which had been
weighing very heavily upon his mind. He had had,
when in Africa, some little experience of machinery, and
therefore he knew a little about the needs of the case
before them. So it had been deemed advisable that he
should come to England to help forward the construction
of the steamship “ Peace.” The problem was a difficult
one. Steamers were not adapted for climbing cataracts,
so that they had to arrange for their boat to be taken
to pieces, that its various portions could be transported
overland. There was also a difficulty in the matter of
draught. Congo, above the cataracts, stretched slug-
gishly away into a breadth of miles, dotted with thou-
sands of islands — and, of course, was proportionately
shallow. They shad therefore arranged that when the
“Peace” was fully laden it would only draw twelve inches
of water. Then, again, they might remember how
Stanley had told them that the natives had pertinaci-
ously taken every opportunity of attacking him. Now,
they were not anxious to become food for cannibals, so
they had to provide the means of running away. It
would be difficult, however, to apply powerful machinery
to a boat which only drew twelve inches.

CONGO RIVER SCENERY, CATARACT REGION, NEAR STANLEY POOL.
Photo : Rev. Wm. Forfeitt.

OLD UNDERHILL STATION, AND HELL’S CAULDRON, NEAR MATADI.

Photo: G. Grenfell

■

Transport of the ‘Peace' 13 1

‘All these difficulties, however, had been grappled
with by Messrs. Thornycroft, to whom, he might say,
the Society was most deeply indebted for the skill,
patience, and thought which they had applied to the
construction of their little vessel. Not a suggestion had
been overlooked, and he might say that the expense
would not nearly be met by the cheque which had been
forwarded to them.

‘ The construction of the ship had occupied a year,
and as to its transport they might consider themselves
fortunate if they succeeded in getting that done in
the same period. It was a five weeks’ journey to the
mouth of the Congo; then they had a voyage of no
miles by river to their first station. There the cases
would be unshipped and placed in the mission store,
awaiting the carriers. The first stage was sixty miles
further on to Bayneston, the second, seventy miles to
Manyanga, and from thence to Stanley Pool, the third
and last stage, was between eighty and 100 miles. The
carriers, under the guidance of one of their head men,
marched in caravans, sometimes stretching a mile in
length, so that there was risk of some of the packages
being lost or stolen. To lessen that risk, they had
every package sewn up in canvas and numbered, so that
a duplicate could be sent from England at once, if the
original happened to go astray. An inventory was to
be given to the head man at the start, and the produc-
tion of that and the packages at the end of the journey
would ensure his payment.

‘ As for the country the river ran through a ravine,
and surrounding land was seamed with the ravines of
inflowing tributary streams so steep that, in some in-
stances, they would have to use ropes and pulleys to get
their packages across. Another obstacle was the grass,

132 The Coming of the ‘Peace’

which was ten or eighteen feet high, and only cut up
into narrow tracks. They had three available classes of
carriers — the Krumen, the men of Loango, and the
natives of the country themselves. The first were the
best, as they were the best workers, and they were so far
from home when on .the Congo that they could not run
away ; but their services were the dearest. The Loango
men cost about a half less, but they were not so reliable.
The natives were the cheapest, but also the most trouble-
some. The pay was given in red calico, or white-handled
knives, of a certain quality. The rate of pay came to
about one penny per pound per ioo miles. That was
after they had thoroughly organized a route. At first it
might be as much as threepence a pound. From the
coast, where the route was not organized, the price was
somewhat dearer. Sometimes the men, like the en-
lightened British workmen, struck, and they (the mis-
sionaries) were sometimes separated from their supplies
by long periods of time. They could not hope for
anything like such favourable terms for the transport of
the “ Peace” till they had the San Salvador route in
working order.

‘ As to the time which the transport would occupy :
from the first river station to Bayneston, sixty miles,
would occupy each caravan some ten days. Their
steamer would take some fifteen or twenty caravans for
the first stage, requiring six months for that alone. The
second stage would take another six months, and the
third was so long and difficult that they could not hope
that it might be done in much less than a year. But they
hoped to have all these three stages run concurrently, so
that, instead of two years, they trusted to begin the
building of their steamer long before the last loads had
reached the river-side. They had already sent out to

Appalled at the Cost 133

Stanley Pool a good supply of tools, etc., and then the
work would begin.

1 Many people rather objected to missionaries doing
such rough work, because it did not bear directly upon
the mission. None would rejoice more heartily than he
would when they got more direct mission work, but he
believed it would be found that the result would more
than justify the time and labour bestowed. It was
expensive. One gentleman had written to him that he
was appalled at the cost of this Congo Mission, its heavy
expenses, and its risk of life. Well, it was rather for
them to become appalled at the risk than for friends in
England to become appalled at the cost.

‘ After a while they looked forward to having some
of the appliances of civilization at command, and then
the risk of life would be lessened, for he could assure
them at present the missionaries led a very Robinson
Crusoeish life. Their houses were simply four posts
with bamboo walls and a reed roof, and their tables were
just four sticks with a top made from broken boxes. As
to the appalling cost, what did it amount to ? Four-
pence per head per annum for the members of the Bap-
tist denomination. Their squadron for the suppression
of the slave traffic cost about a quarter of a million a
year. He believed that that quarter of a million would
produce infinitely greater results if applied to the further-
ance of Christian missions. The squadron was doubtless
doing useful and good work, but why not supplement
what it was doing by preaching and teaching Christ over
the vast interior of that land ?

‘ He had to thank them for their kind reception,
which had cheered his heart. The memory of that meet-
ing would strengthen and stimulate them in the work
that lay before them. They had fears and difficulties to

134 The Coming of the ‘Peace’

encounter, but they would certainly succeed in the end,
and obtain success, because they were doing the will of
the Master.’

At the same meeting Mr. Doke made a young
recruit’s confession of faith and hope, and concluded his
address with words which in a few short weeks acquired
singular pathos. He told his audience ‘They perhaps
might never meet again. He might come home again ;
if so, good-bye till then. It might be that “ death’s
bright angel ” would call him to higher work, and perhaps
they might never meet till before the throne ; if so,
good-bye till then.’

Noteworthy testimony to the exceptional interest of
this meeting was borne by the Editor of the Christian
World , who was present. In sending a generous sub-
scription to the Congo Mission Fund, he wrote : ‘ No
report will convey to people not present any adequate
idea of the hallowed and inspiring spirit which pervaded
the meeting throughout. A more genuine and deep-
toned missionary meeting it was never our good fortune
to attend ; and though it consisted of only about two
hundred people, there is certain to go out from it a
spiritual influence of no ordinary kind.’

The two Congo Missionaries, in charge of the precious
packages of the ‘ Peace,’ sailed from Liverpool on
December 9, and on the 14th Grenfell wrote to Mr.
Hawkes —

‘ I’m very sorry I did not put it plainer that I had
altered my arrangements, and therefore missed you.
However, I must, and do, take the will for the deed ;
and now I regret that I’m under such unfavourable
circumstances for writing you a “ good-bye,” and a
Christmas greeting. Here I am on board a steamer
which rolls on the slightest provocation, trying to write

i35

A Night-mare at Sea

on a table with the “ fiddles ” spread — my legs are
gripping one of the table legs, by way of aiding my
stability — and altogether about as uncomfortable “ in-
ternally ” and externally as most poor mortals would
care to be, unless they were “ going in ” specially for
martyrdom. I won’t dilate — I fancy the remembrances
of certain “ fellow feelings ” render it unnecessary, and
will secure your sympathies.

‘ We are nearing Madeira, and I must just send you
a few lines, to let you know I’ve got so far safely, the
American-predicted storm notwithstanding. We had it
rather rough on Monday night and Tuesday, to the
damage of my sleep and the crockery, especially the
crockery.

‘ I lay half sleeping in my berth this morning, and
was imagining myself still on shore. I was conscious it
was the 14th, and I knew very well that the 9th was the
day for sailing ; I began to perspire at the possibility of
having missed another mail, but the culmination came,
and I awoke, and lo I was safely on board. I am glad
to be so far on my way, and shall be yet more glad when
the voyage is a thing of the past, and I’m on the Congo
once again ; and if you wish me Christmas wishes— well,
wish me quickly there, and then God’s help to do
His will.’

On January 18, being a couple of days’ sail from
Banana, Grenfell wrote to Mrs. Hartland, giving some
particulars of his tedious voyage, with an amusing
account of the appreciation of a Christmas pudding
which he and Mr. Doke owed to their friend’s motherly
kindness. It was opened with their letters (received at
Cape Palmas) on Christmas Day, was incomparably
superior to the ship’s pudding, so good, indeed, that they
purposed making it last into the New Year. But this

136 The Coming of the ‘Peace’

ideal exceeded their capacity for temperance. The
pudding disappeared untimely, ‘ for the very good reason
that we could not be content with one visit a day.'

In a postscript written after arrival at Underhill, and
obviously referring to a present for his little daughter
Peggy, he says, ‘The Noah’s Ark is a great success.
The animals are periodically laid down in rows to go to
sleep, the lion with the lamb, and the cocks and hens all
mixed up with foxes and wolves, a glorious jumble, such
as delights the infant mind.’

After a six weeks’ voyage the missionaries and their
company landed safely at Banana on January 21, and
the company was considerable.

Writing from Underhill, February 2, Grenfell says —

‘ As we journeyed along the coast our party gradually
increased, for at Sierra Leone I picked up twenty Kru
boys, at Cape Palmas I secured thirty more, and at
Cameroons a further twenty were added to our numbers.
Among these latter were my old boy Ti, or John, and
Sally’s mother and her two brothers — there were also
three married couples and three or four children, so we
had quite a mixed-up sort of crowd by the time we
reached the Congo. Things, however, turned out very
fortunately for us at Banana, for instead of making a
big camp, and waiting to go up river in small detach-
ments, I was able to charter the “ Prins Hendrick ” (a
steamer of about 200 tons) for £110, and take up our
bag and baggage, the “ Peace ” included, all in one trip.
Our new station, Underhill, where I am now writing, is
about ten miles higher up than Musuko, it has a capital
landing-place, and in three days from the time we
finished our ocean voyage we were alongside our own
wharf, discharging our people and goods.

‘ It was very fortunate that I was able to secure a

A Rare Chatterbox

137

quick passage up river, for had I been compelled to wait
(as I have often had to wait), I should never have seen
my baby. As it was, I found her fast sinking, and by
the third day after my arrival she had passed away.
The fine big child, about which I had heard so much,
only just lived long enough that I might say “ good-bye.”
My home-coming, as you may readily imagine, was a
sad one — Mamma was greatly cut up — poor baby had
been her one great care during my absence. Baby had
been sick for five weeks, and Mamma was far from well,
having had a very anxious time of it. Peggy, however,
is blooming, and is capering round fine, and the loss of
her sister seems to rest upon her shoulders very lightly.
She talks Portuguese, English and Congo all in the same
breath, and is a rare chatterbox. . . .

‘ I find that, as Mr. Crudgington is going home to be
married, I shall be obliged to stay here till he comes out
again. I am rather disappointed, but the new man here
is not equal to the work, and wishes to go up country, so
he goes on to Mr. Hartland, at Manyanga. The sending
of the steamer up country will go on just the same.
Mr. Doke goes on to Bayneston, to receive what I send
on to him. I thought of going on, and of leaving him
at this end, but “ Man proposes, God disposes.” ’

In another letter of the same date he says, ‘Mr.
Comber and Mr. Bentley are at the Pool ; Hartland
and Moolenaar at Manyanga, shortly to be joined by
Butcher. Hughes is at Bayneston, whither Doke goes
in a day or two. Hartland goes to England soon after
he completes the fourth year, say, in July or August, by
which time Crudgington will be out again, and I shall be
free to go up country.’

These plans were strangely disarranged. Mr. Doke
never went to Bayneston. Two days prior to the date of

138 The Coming of the ‘Peace’

Grenfell’s letter, just quoted, he wrote to Mr. Baynes in
jubilant strain, full of gratitude for the providential
mercies of the voyage, and particularly for the happy
circumstances which enabled Grenfell to hire the river
steamer, and make the trip to Underhill with so great
convenience and despatch. He also gave a bright
description of his environment at Underhill, palpitating
with the joy of living, and enclosed a pen-and-ink
sketch, by his own hand, of the landing of the 4 Peace ’
loads — an indication of the vivacity of his own mind as
well as of the busy scene.

But even then the shadow of death was drifting
toward him. A week later he was stricken down by
fever. Yet again, a week later, and in spite of all that
love and skill could do for him, he died, murmuring,

‘ All is well, so well ! ’ It was well for him ; but for his
colleagues the bereavement was a heavy blow. His
geniality and ardour had elicited love and high expecta-
tion, while his special equipment as an engineer made
him of peculiar importance to the mission at that time.

Upon Grenfell devolved the duty of breaking the
news to Mr. Doke’s family in England. The task wrung
his heart. And, writing to Mr. Baynes at the same time,
he says, ‘ To know him was to love him. Working and
living with him as I have done for many months past, I
could not but admire him. His sterling worth, unobtru-
sive devotion, and deep-seated piety made me feel he
was specially qualified for our work out here. But he
has been called higher, and our hearts ache, and our eyes
are full.’

When Mr. Crudgington’returned to England Grenfell
settled down at Underhill, to carry on the ordinary work
of the station, together with the despatch of the steamer
loads, the pressure of which special business was greatly

139

A Run Up-Country

increased for him by Mr. Doke’s' death. His heart was
up-country, but it seemed to be his duty to hold on at
the shore station until Mr. Crudgington should return to
set him free. Three months of this work broke his
health. Writing in April, he says, ‘ I have suffered
rather severely during the last four weeks from dysentery,
and it is leaving me very weak, though I am happy to
say that I am getting better. I feel I must have a change,
one side or the other, and if I can only manage to take a
run up country, I may be able to do something to help on
the transport of our steamer.’

The timely arrival of Mr. Dixon at Underhill, and
his willingness to take charge while Grenfell got away,
made the desired journey possible. The ‘run up-
country’ was a figure of speech, for he was so weak
that he had to be carried in a hammock.

Prior to starting, he had written cheerily of his hope
of soon meeting his friend, John Hartland, who, while
willing to stay, was to be constrained to take furlough in
July or August. This hope was fulfilled earlier than he
had forecast, but under conditions which made the fulfil-
ment a heart-breaking disappointment.

At Manyanga, in the middle of April, Hartland
found himself so weakened by fever that he took boat
and came down river to Bayneston, arriving on April 21.
Hughes, who was in charge of the station at Bayneston,
overborne by the heavy nursing which Hartland’s serious
condition entailed, wrote to Butcher, who was at the
camp on the Luvu river, beseeching him to hurry on to
Bayneston. With fever upon him, Butcher started im-
mediately, and by dint of hard walking arrived at
Bayneston the next day, having previously despatched
a message to Grenfell, who had left Underhill on the
27th. The message reached him on the second day of

140 The Coming of the 6 Peace ’

his journey, and though ill himself, he pushed on with
forced marches, arriving at Bayneston on May i. It
was at once apparent to him that Hartland, whom
Hughes and Butcher had ‘carefully nursed through
ten days of the severest form of dysentery,1 was in a
dangerous condition. But abatement of the worst
symptoms gave hope, which again was subdued to fear.

After further fluctuations, hope was abandoned on
May io, and it was Grenfell’s duty to inform his friend
that his day’s work was done. ‘ I shan’t easily forget,’
he writes, ‘ his look, as he gazed at us and said, “ Well,
I am not afraid to die. My trust is in Jesus. Whosoever
belie veth in Him hath everlasting life ! ” A little while
later he said, “ After four years’ preparation, and just as
I am about to enter upon mission work proper, it seems
strange for me to realize that my work is done : but He
knows best.” *

On the evening of the same day Comber arrived
unexpectedly, and most opportunely, for the affection
of these two men for one another was intense. They
had worked together in the home country, they had
shared early perils, and were absolutely one in their
devotion to Christ and His work in Africa. Their inter-
course during the two remaining days of Hartland’s life
was very tender and sacred, and the letter which Comber
wrote to Mrs. Hartland is one of the most beautiful and
touching in all our missionary records. It reveals how
the dying man’s gaze was absorbed by Christ ; how he
turned from dear thoughts of home and marriage and
happy work, to the dearer thought of being with Him,
and seeing Him as He is. His last words, uttered at
the final moment, were : ‘ Christ is all in all ; Christ is
all in all. Let me go, my friends. Don’t hold me back.
Let me go, Tom. I must go. I want to go to Him.

Hartland’s Death 141

“ Simply to Thy cross I cling.” Let me go.’ So he
passed on.

After Hartland’s death Grenfell proceeded with
Comber to Manyanga, where many things required
attention and adjustment. And while at Manyanga, in
consultation with his honoured colleague, he decided to
transfer his household from Underhill to Stanley Pool.
Early in June he is back at Underhill, and after a
fortnight’s preparation starts, on the 17th, for the up-
country journey. On July 1 he is at Bayneston, and
writes to Mrs. Hartland —

* After so long a' silence I hardly know how to break
it, and especially as such sad memories cluster around
me now. I am writing this in the room in which your
dear boy bade us “ good-bye,” and just about the time
when Comber’s letter with its sorrowful tidings is rending
your hearts at home. These facts make it a very gloomy
“ sitting down to write,” and yet not altogether gloomy,
for while I remember how stricken your hearts must be
at the loss, and what a blow it is to the Congo Mission,
none of us who were with John in his last days can fail
to be strengthened in our work and purposes by the
manner of his victorious going hence. Although Comber’s
letter is such a sorrowful one, you must be greatly
comforted by the details of the glorious assurance with
which your dear son entered in where so many fear to
tread — may the like faith and joy be the portion of all
of us !

‘ I cannot tell you more than Comber told you (and
told so beautifully we all felt) ; I can only say how we
who know the inmates of “ No. 34 ” have often thought
and spoken about you all, especially during the past
week, when we have expected the news was just about
reaching you. Our prayers have been and still are that

142 The Coming of the ‘Peace’

God will strengthen your hearts, and out of the darkness
bring forth light. . . .

‘You will be wondering how it is I am able to leave
Underhill ; it is only because Dixon consents to act for
me. I must be back again by the time Crudgington comes
out, to turn things over to him. Weeks is alone at San
Salvador — Bentley is by himself at the Pool — Butcher
is in charge at Manyanga — Moolenaar is here, helping
Hughes — Comber is on his way back from a visit to San
Salvador, and I hope will soon overtake me on my way
inland. I am waiting here for the boat to come down
from Manyanga, and expect it to be here to-morrow.

‘ Our transport work moves slowly along, but we have
managed to get the whole of the hull of our steamer as
far as this point, and some few loads have gone on to
Manyanga. Three caravans have gone up overland, so
we are hoping to have the land route as well as the
waterway at our service. This will greatly help us, as
there are loads enough at Underhill to keep the boat
fully employed for eight months, without counting goods
already ordered and now on their way out. July 22.
Something interrupted me, and the opportunity I take
for resuming my letter is found here, at Ngombe
Makwekwe, opposite the Edwin Arnold river. It is
Sunday, and we are in camp (T. J. Comber and our-
selves), having as quiet a day as an eminently curious
lot of natives will allow. Miss Peggy is a great “ curio,”
and attracts wondering crowds/

A visit from the chief cut him short at ‘ wondering
crowds/ and the letter was finished at Banana, on
August 1 6.

This journey en famille created no small sensation in
the country-side.

‘Seeing that when I went up to the Pool I took my

The Greater Wonder 143

wife and child with me, we made up rather a startling
caravan for the natives. Caravans of boxes and bales
they were quite accustomed to, but a household, with a
lot of household gear, was a new sensation. Among our
impedimenta we counted a couple of milch goats (these
were a great help), a cage of Cochin China fowls we
wished to introduce, a cage of pigeons, a box of cuttings
of new plants, and a cat and a dog. This last was a
great curio. Smooth-haired dogs of the terrier type were
common enough, but a little woolly beast that could
scarcely see out of its eyes — what could it be ? “ Was

it some new kind of goat, or pig ? ” Which was the
greater wonder, Peggy, or her little dog, is a moot-point.
Sometimes the one, sometimes the other.

i Poor Peggy was tired of her hammock ride, and was
heartily glad when the sixteen days’ travelling were at
an end. Very often by breakfast time the monotonous
swing, swing, of the hammock had sent her to sleep, so
when we camped we used to fix the hammock-pole in
the branches of some convenient tree. Breakfasting, if
it happened near a town, was always a source of interest ;
but this would be immeasurably intensified when, upon
awaking, Peggy’s little pale face made its appearance
looking over the hammock side — the hubbub would be
simply indescribable. However, we safely accomplished
our long journey without any special incident. This,
perhaps, will seem strange to you, seeing that we were
travelling in romantic Africa ; but there’s a lot of prosaic
life even in Africa. The prosiness was rather disturbed,
though, one morning, for we were turned out of a native
hut in which we had been sleeping by hordes of driver
ants, and this long before daylight, and without giving
us a chance to more than half dress ourselves. They
were quite masters of the situation till they took

i44 The Coming of the ‘Peace*

themselves off, a couple of hours later. Their bites are
suggestive of hot needles, and when once they take hold
they won’t let go. You may pull their bodies off, but
they will still hold on with their heads.

‘Another break in the monotony occurred near the
Pool. It was time to get up, and I stretched my hand from
beneath my blankets to reach the matches, proceeded to
strike a light, and discovered lying between the match-
box and the candlestick a snake about four feet long.
I stretched out my hand again, this time to reach a small
sword I kept handy, and effectually cut Master Snake’s
wanderings short, by making him shorter by just the
length of his head. However, this was the end of the
chapter of incidents — a very short one for so long a
journey, but happily so.’

Grenfell arrived at the Pool on July 27, and two days
later started down to the coast with thirty Kru boys,
workmen whose time had expired, and who were to be
paid off, and sent home by the north-going mail. The
itinerary was as follows : ‘ After a walk of a hundred
miles in five days, I reached Manyanga. A boat journey
of about seventy miles took me to Bayneston ; a further
walk of about sixty miles, and I reached Underhill ;
then about a hundred and ten miles by boat brought
me here, to the mouth of the river (Banana), where after
paying off some thirty of our boys whose contracts had
expired, I am waiting to send them off by steamer to
their own country.’

Grenfell had come down river, not only to dismiss
the home-going workmen, but also that he might go to
Loango, a hundred miles up the coast, to engage more
labourers. After waiting nine days he learned that the
steamer would be just three weeks late. This delay
chafed him, and if his health had permitted he would

A Recalcitrant Patient H5

have started north, overland. But he was staying at the
Dutch House, whose staff of a hundred workers of various
orders included a doctor. He was miserably ill with
dysentery, though he was disposed to make as light as
possible of the fact. But the doctor took him in hand,
condemned him to a farinaceous diet, which he ‘ abomi-
nated,’ and ordered him to bed for a week. He was a
recalcitrant patient, and only lay up for two days. But
it seems to have come upon him that the enforced holiday
was perhaps a good thing ; he admits that he has had a
bad time during the last six months, and surmises that
his stay in Africa this time will not be a long one.
Meanwhile he beguiles the tedium of his long wait by
writing letters to his friends, making up some of those
arrears of correspondence which he is continually lament-
ing, and for which he often makes pathetic and elaborate
apologies.

His ideal in the matter of letter writing must have
been singularly high and exacting. An ordinary mortal,
studying his letters, is amazed by his achievements and
bewildered by his regrets. It was quite a commonplace
matter for him to sit down, wearied with much labour,
and write an epistle to a private friend, with no thought
of publication, which would fill ten pages of this book.
Illness, delay, and much sorrow give a doleful turn to
some of his outpourings at this time, though usually he
recovers his buoyancy before the screed is done. It often
happens in Grenfell’s letters, as in the Psalms, that the
soul’s despondency is relieved by expression, and the
wail of a momentary pessimism passes into the strain of
confidence and praise. Somebody had said in England,
a while before, that Christ’s command, ‘Go ye into all
the world’ was as binding as the Decalogue. This
remark stuck in Grenfell’s mind, and he makes some

146 The Coming? of the ‘Peace’

very caustic comments. ‘ Nobody will allow that a penny
or so a week is a decent compound for a whole command-
ment. Who would not be a very respectable Pharisee, if
the Decalogue could be arranged for at that rate ? Some
of the Churches do right nobly, but need more light, a
good deal more light, about this commandment/

In a letter dated Banana, August 25, having briefly
described the experiences of recent months, by way of
excuse for long silence, he writes —

‘ During all this time I’ve been actively superintend-
ing the steamer transport, which has, I am thankful to
say, proceeded much faster than any of us had ventured
to anticipate. After despatching the hull from Under-
hill, I went up to Bayneston, and while there despatched
the greater portion overland to Manyanga, then hurried
up to Manyanga by boat, arriving a day before the
carriers, and in time to receive them there, and then I
was able to start a lot forward to the Pool. This has
involved hard work for us all. I remember one day at
Bayneston we had over four hundred carriers, more than
two hundred going away with loads, and a hundred
and ninety coming in. The result of all this is that we
have the hull of our steamer and a good deal of the
machinery at its destination ; and if I were only able to
be there, or the engineer whom I am expecting in a
couple of months’ time, we could now be engaged upon
its reconstruction. But, shorthanded as we are, the
steamer is obliged to wait ; however, I am hoping to be
back at the Pool in October ; I promised Comber that
if all went well I’d be back in September. My wife, too,
is expecting me then. Pushing as hard as I like, I cannot
be back in September. If they don’t send us help soon,
they had better do as Bentley suggests— sell the “ Peace,”
and send us elsewhere — we cannot carry on with our

147

The Missing* Case

present staff. If they let us drag on like this, they’ll be
spared the expense of sending us far ; some of us will
be finding resting-places near at hand. Two of the men
now out here, must go home next year, and though we
fellows who can manage to hold on will have all the
more to do for the time being, we know it’s the only
thing to be done, if we’re to hope for our colleagues’ help
in the future. I’m in the “ dumps ” this morning, so
forgive my “ Jeremiad.”

‘ But, to get back to the steamer transport, we’ve
much to be thankful for ; things have run along at a
wondrous rate, considering the transport facilities we
could rely upon a year ago. The only things lost out of
the hundreds of packages we’ve sent up-country are two
boxes of tools ; these are far more easily replaced than
parts of the steamer would be, and you don’t know how
grateful we feel that nothing more serious has happened.
These were stolen by a couple of rascally carriers, who
bolted to their town about a day’s march off the road.
Our messenger who went in search was sent about his
business in the curtest fashion, everything he had being
taken off him. These same tools were duplicates of
others we had sent out per “ Ethiopia,” which, you may
remember, was lost; so I’ve just had to order them for
the third time ! I said we had lost nothing else ; but on
reaching the Pool I found a case Pm had not arrived,
though it had been despatched from Manyanga a fort-
night in advance. I began to quake, for P 1 1 1 contained,
I knew, one of the crank shafts. For about a week
afterwards I had “ P one hundred and eleven ” on the
brain, till one day, on my return to Manyanga, I met it
in “ tow ” of a couple of men. I sang the Doxology. It
appeared its being a bit overweight for a single load had
resulted in its finding a lodging in a native hut till a

148 The Coming* of the ‘Peace’

couple of enterprising spirits ventured to grapple
with it/

In the same letter, having severely criticized Portu-
guese methods of Colonial administration, he proceeds —

‘ If I don’t like the Portuguese, neither do I like the
high-handed policy of the Belgian Expedition, which
seems to have in view the formation of some big concern
after the model of the East India Co. They’ve been
most unscrupulous, even in these the days of small
things— what will they be with the whole thing fully
developed ? What we want is some good form of
administration that treats all nationalities alike. Our
own Government, though not perfect, is the best ; but
there’s no hope of their taking the matter up. I wonder
if any truly international administration could be devised
that would be practicable ?

‘ When I get away to the Pool this time, I hope it
will be long before I come down again, and I trust I
shall find these things all settled, and — who knows ? —
a railway commenced. Then farewell to the incidents
of overland tramping. No more long caravans and
dwelling in tents ; our Robinson Crusoeing will be
spoiled, for we shall be able to get civilized dwellings
even at the Pool.’

While at Banana, Grenfell caught just a glimpse of
Mr. and Mrs. Crudgington, who arrived on September 3,
found a river steamer on the point of starting, and passed
on immediately to Underhill.

That day provided him with an experience which
must have been a sensational relief from the monotony
of his tarrying. He suddenly found himself one of the
chief actors in a little drama, sufficiently romantic. He
shall tell the story in his own words. ‘ By the same mail
(that which brought Mr. and Mrs. Crudgington) came

A FUNERAL DANCE, BOPOTO.
Photo: Rev. Wm. Forfeitt.

A DANCING WOMAN AND HER ATTENDANTS,
Photo : Rev. Wm. Forfeitt.

Wanted, a Pilot 149

out a gentleman and two ladies, for the Livingstone
Inland Mission, the two latter to be married to two men
out here. Banana is scarcely a nice place for ladies to
stay in, so I made up my mind to try and find their
Mukimvika Station (eight or ten miles away among the
creeks), and place them, as it were, in their own territory.

‘ At one o’clock we started — plenty of time, I
thought, to get back again by dark ; but instead of
being back again we were wandering amid a labyrinth
of mangrove swamps. We could hear people, but as
soon as we shouted they became quiet from fear, and
we could not get any one to pilot us. At seven o’clock
we gave up the search for Mukimvika. We arranged
our rugs, and prepared to make a night of it. We had
only a handful of biscuits with us, no tea, nor had we
eaten anything since breakfast.

‘ As we could not find the Mission Station, we must
needs find some solid ground for the soles of our feet.
We had spent six hours in the boat, and the prospect of
an all-night imprisonment for our four selves and a crew
of eight was not to be thought of. Well, we wandered
up and we wandered down, but no landing-place could
we discover. At last, when it was nearing nine o’clock,
and we were nearly giving up, we saw a light, and most
marvellously found a pilot. We could scarce believe he
was in earnest. However, he put one foot in the boat,
and then seemed to deliberate. You can’t imagine
how anxiously we waited to see what he would finally
do. There we were, hungry, tired and cramped, and
whether we made a night of it, a dozen of us in a rowing
boat, all depended upon the getting in of our dusky
pilot. At last in he got ; it took him five minutes ; but
he had not failed us, and we rejoiced with great joy.

‘ But a minute more, and he was out again — how the

iso The Coming of the ‘Peace’

thermometer fell ! Happily it was groundless fear. He
had stepped out only to push the boat off the bank, and
in he sprang again. A quarter of an hour’s pulling, and
we landed for the three miles of walking still left, and by
ten o’clock we were waking Mr. X. up out of his sleep,
to greet the lady he’d said “ good-bye ” to two years and
a half ago. He had no idea of her coming out. There had
been some talk of it a year ago, but it had been given
up. Was it not a shock for him ? Poor fellow, he had
to sit down and collect his wits a bit before he was
answerable for what he did. But the cook was soon
roused up to prepare a wedding feast. We were too
hungry to be particular. And after the feast, and just
before midnight, I tied the knot. That’s yesterday’s
little history, and with it I will wind up my letter.’

CHAPTER VII

THE COMING OF THE ‘ PEACE ’ —

Continued

Stopped in a Journey by Armed Natives— Death of Mr. Butcher-
Life at Stanley Pool— Story of an Adjutant— Love Affairs of
Nlemvo and Lungu— A Glorious Breakfast— Death of Quentin
Thomson, Hartley, and Two Engineers— Death of Grenfell’s
Father— The ‘ Peace ’ put together— Native Workmen— Launch
of the ‘Peace’ — Letter to Mr. Barnaby — His Appreciation.

N his voyage to Loango, the comparative apathy of

Vy the Churches at home toward missionary work
was still weighing on Grenfell’s mind, but his faith in
the cause and the Master gave him cheer. His quest of
work-people at Loango was successful. The return
journey to Banana was made overland, and one episode
of the march was recorded, some months later.

‘ I don’t think I told you of an incident which
occurred on my way overland from Loango to Banana,
three months ago. I had managed to get more than
forty boys, and was on the fifth day of my return when
we encountered a would-be very important personage,
who took exception to my folk singing as they jogged
along— rather boisterous singing, I confess, just some-
thing to keep their spirits up. I took no notice. After
awhile he became more importunate, and for the sake of
peace I told the boys to be quiet till we had passed the
villages which “our friend ” said would be disturbed if we

152 The Coming of the ‘Peace’

did not desist. We went on a little farther, when he
halted our caravan, and said we must go down a certain
path. I immediately jumped out of my hammock,
asked him if I was his slave, and told him that I should
please myself. Previously I had no particular choice in
the matter, but now of course I turned from the path he
wanted me to take, and passed along the other.

‘ All went on as usual for half an hour, when we heard
people following, and in a moment or two about a dozen
men with guns had overtaken us and brought us to a
stand, threatening the direst penalties if we did not at
once retrace our steps, bringing their muskets to the
ready, and unpleasantly close to some of our heads.

‘ One gentleman in particular honoured me with his
attention, leaving only a foot or so between the muzzle
of his gun and my face. I did what I could to appease
the fears of my boys (we had nothing more desperate
than a table knife among the forty of us), and told the
natives it was no use threatening my boys, since it was
not their matter ; they had simply come because I had
told them. As for myself, as they seemed to wish it,
I would go back to Mangooa Mazunda’s with them,
without troubling them to make a carcase of me. So
we went back, and enjoyed a nice howling match. It
made a great day for them to have brought a white man
and forty odd Loango men back into their town by the
mere prowess of their arms ; so the people took up the
howling, and we had a particularly cheerful reception.

‘ At last we reached the chief’s lumbu (or enclosure
round his house). At the entrance I encountered
Mangooa Mazunda himself, and at once put the question,
“ Did you send these people after me ? ” He emphatically
disavowed any part in the affair. So I said, “ Well, your
people have brought me back, and they must now carry

153

Sunday Travelling

me to the point where they overtook me ; ” and I
proceeded to read the old fellow such a lesson about the
enormity of his having, through his people, laid hands
upon a white man, that he shook in his shoes — at least
he would have done, if he’d had shoes on. So it was
arranged that the young man who was so important in
his own estimation, and the gentleman who favoured me
with his particular attention in the matter of the musket
muzzle, should carry my hammock. And they carried
me, not only to the point from which they made me
return, but an equal distance beyond. Did not my boys
shout, to make up for lost time ? It was very comical to
see the change that had come over the conquering
braves and their cheering friends, and very gratifying
that nothing worse came of it.’

On October 21 Grenfell writes in camp on the way
up to Stanley Pool —

‘ It is now Sunday, 7 p.m. I’m in my tent sitting
on my camp-bed, with my writing gear on my knees.
I’m waiting for dinner — some boiled goat which is
being cooked at the camp fire. I’m rather tired, for
although it is Sunday I’ve been travelling all day in the
boat. How is it you are travelling on Sunday ? you’ll
say. Well, I must begin by referring you to my last
letter, from somewhere on the coast, I think, when I was
going to get workmen. In this letter I fancy I tried to
explain that I’d only come down on business, and was
going to hurry back at once. Illness at Banana helped to
delay me in starting for Loango, and when I got back to
Underhill I was delayed again, partly because Dixon,
poor fellow, had been compelled to leave everything for
me to square up with Crudgington, and to go to England
very sick. So sick, indeed, that he could not help
himself, and I was compelled to send John (you will

154 The Coming of the ‘Peace’

remember him as Ti) with him to England. Of course,
John was only too glad of the opportunity, though I
could ill spare him.

‘Another cause of delay was a serious illness of Mrs.
Crudgington for two days (10th and I ith of this month) ;
she was quite delirious with fever, and Crudgington and
I both began to despair of her getting better, but she
has been mercifully spared. However, I at last managed
to start, but had only got four hours’ distance when
I received news of poor Butcher being seriously ill.

‘ Hurrying on as fast as I could, I reached Bayneston
on Friday, only to learn that Butcher died on the day
I first received news of his sickness. This left Man-
yanga without a missionary, and I felt compelled to
start on again the next morning, to stop the gap ; it
being a serious matter to our whole line of stations if
the communication is broken at one point. And here I
am on the second evening of my journey from Bayneston,
encamped after a long pull in the boat, on my way
to Manyanga, where poor Butcher was buried just a
week ago.

‘ Manyanga, October 30. My letter was interrupted
by, “ Chop’s ready, sir,” so I’ve now to begin again, nine
days later. In a day and a half after writing the fore-
going I reached this place, and found things dreadfully
muddled up. A few busy days, and I managed to evolve
something like order out of chaos, and on Saturday last
I was cheered by seeing Bentley and Moolenaar come
down the hill on the opposite side of the river, a mile
away. I could recognize them easily through the field-
glass, and was greatly rejoiced at the prospect of being
released, that I might pursue my journey to the Pool —
for of course I could not have left this station till some
one came to take charge. Moolenaar starts to-day, to

Perils of Loneliness

155

go and help Hughes at Bayneston ; Bentley stops here
for a few months, though he ought to go home, and was
preparing for it. I go on to the Pool to-morrow.

* That we should have to work so big a mission with
so few men is indeed a sad reflection upon the enthu-
siasm of Christians at home. Single-handed, as four of
our stations are at this moment, who can be surprised at
disasters ? Humanly speaking, if poor Butcher had had
an experienced colleague, he would have pulled through.
But with the work of the place on his own shoulders, and
not being able to prescribe for himself (delirious fever
patients, how can they do so?), the only result to be
anticipated was that which has so disastrously followed.
Butcher was a strong, hardy fellow physically, and one
of the most promising of us, in the matter of health.
He was a really good fellow for the work, occupied a
very difficult position, and did the work splendidly.
We relied implicitly upon his managing ability, and
there’s a lot of “ managing ” required in a place like
this, among “ rowdy ” natives. How we are to replace
him has been a matter of the greatest anxiety. I must
go to look after steamer affairs. Bentley ought to
go home for his health’s sake, and for the sake of
printing a grammar and a dictionary, works of the
greatest importance.

‘ Here we are scarcely knowing which way to turn,
and I only wish I could see a speedy way out of our
difficulties. If more men don’t soon come, the Congo
Mission will collapse, and the work that has cost so
much will be thrown away. But it can’t be that there
are no young men able and willing to fill the vacancies.
Three men dead, and one invalided home ; and as yet
no new blood out here. Two, I believe, are on the way ;
that’s better than nothing, but two men to stop four gaps !

156 The Coming of the ‘Peace’

‘ I must leave off, that I may write a few lines to Mr.
Baynes, and the boat is already waiting to take Moolenaar
to the other side/

A letter dated Stanley Pool, December 10, gives
some account of life and work at Stanley Pool.

‘ I think I just managed to scratch you a line or two
about my having reached the Pool five weeks ago, and
about poor Butcher’s death. Last week we received the
news that Sidney Comber and Ross were on the coast,
and might be expected up-country at an early date.
We are even now, with these two men, worse off than
when I came out in January, for then our total was
eleven. Since then three have died, and Dixon has
gone home, so that all told we are only nine now, and
in a few weeks shall be reduced to eight, as Bentley is
most likely starting off home by next mail. I do hope
there will soon be more men to the front. Two of us at
the Pool here are quite unequal to the work.

‘As yet we have heard no news of the engineer,
though he was applied for while Crudgington was at
home, and was promised out at once. No engineer
being forthcoming, I have put one of the engines
together, and as soon as the next caravan is in shall
be able to finish the other ; we have also commenced
the boiler. I have also put a printing press together,
and when the type, which is now on the way up, reaches
us, we are hoping to print a few Congo leaflets. Our
school is prospering ; we have nearly twenty boys. At
first people could not understand our wanting boys to
teach, and were suspicious. They seem to have over-
come their suspicions in a measure, and more boys are
promised as soon as we are ready ; so we are building a
new house for them, and a schoolroom as well. You
can easily understand, therefore, that we are busy enough.

157

A Zoological Story

‘ These young colts need a lot of managing. Belonging
as they do to a wild set, they will take a lot of gentle
breaking in before they run easily in harness. The
reins need to be very cautiously pulled, or they’d be off
to their homes. They are a much wilder race of people
here. Everybody carries a spear or a huge knife, and
most of them have their faces made hideous with white,
yellow, red and blue chalk. The language too is very
different, resembling much more closely the Cameroons
language. People from the far interior, three hundred
or four hundred miles, come down in their canoes to sell
ivory, and they all make a point of coming up to our
place, to have a look at the precious baby. White men
are no novelty now, but a white man’s piccaninny ! ’

There follows a zoological story of extraordinary
interest, captivating to the minds of children, and
suggestive to their elders of serious reflections. The
story was first publicly told in England by Mr. Comber ;
and pardonable incredulity, on the part of the audience,
contended with respect for the story-teller’s approved
veracity. The issue of the struggle was not always a
foregone conclusion. In his book, * Pioneering on the
Congo,’ Dr. Bentley recounts the incident, with the
circumstantial detail of an eye-witness. The curious
reader who takes the trouble to compare Bentley’s
version with Grenfell’s, will find it interesting and
instructive to observe that the accounts of two perfectly
honest narrators, agreeing absolutely as to the main
facts, may yet be marked by minor discrepancies : a
reflection applicable to documents more august.

4 There is another curio here in the shape of a big
adjutant-bird, a fellow who stands four feet high, and
has a wonderful appetite. Fish, bones, leather (or, at
least, sun-dried goats’ skin, as hard almost as leather)

i58 The Coming of the ‘Peace’

are all alike palatable. He had a rare feast one day off
a pet monkey of Bentley’s, which died and which he
swallowed whole. Dead monkey not being forthcoming
every day, he went for a live kitten, or half-grown cat,
and swallowed it. The boys raised a shout : “ He’s
swallowed pussy,” and sure enough muffled mewing
came from the region of his capacious maw. His great
jaws were opened in quest, but no glimpse of pussy.
Another attempt, and his jaws being nearly rent, Mr.
Comber just caught sight of pussy’s tail, and managed
to get hold of it ; then a better hold ; and, up came
pussy, alive. Yes, and is alive to this day, though it is
nearly three weeks ago since it happened. And it’s all
true, though I must confess it looks like “ fibs.” ’

There is a sequel to this story. Years after, in an
address to children Grenfell remarked that missionaries
hardly dared tell some of their experiences, lest they
should be charged with fabrication, and referred to the
doubts awakened by Comber’s story of the adjutant-
bird. Then he went on to give some further and
apposite information concerning the rescued cat.

A traveller, a doctor, visited Stanley Pool, heard
the story, saw the cat, and was so much interested that
he received the animal as a present, and went away the
proud possessor of one of the greatest curiosities in the
world. His pride was short-lived. The cat became a
night-mare. Her malign influence damaged his reputa-
tion. Of course he told the story, and produced the
evidence. But nobody believed him. The truthful man
was accounted an outrageous liar, and smarting beneath
the scorn of his friends, he came to wish that he had
never seen the cat or heard the story.

Early in January Grenfell heard from Mr. Baynes
that the engineer appointed to reconstruct the ‘Peace/

159

Coy Lovers

would sail in November or December. He had put the
two engines together, but assuming that the engineer
would prefer to commence the work in his own way,
refrained from starting on the reconstruction of the ship.
He also mentions the return of John, formerly Ti, who
had accompanied Mr. Dixon to England. John only
remained in England eight days, but in this brief period
his eyes were wonderfully opened and his ideas greatly
enlarged. About this time also, the whole Mission
seems to have been much exercised by the love affairs
of Nlemvo and Lungu. Nlemvo, being in love with
Lungu, had made one of the quickest marches on record
from Manyanga to Stanley Pool, that he might put the
question, and make his election sure before starting for
England with Mr. Bentley. Preliminaries were quickly
arranged, and it was only necessary that the young
people, who had not seen each other for three months,
should meet and observe the formalities of betrothal.

They were good young people, and the missionaries
were sympathetic and approving. But extraordinary
bashfulness, now on one side, now on the other, made
the business extremely difficult to negotiate, and Mr.
Comber and the Grenfells were at their wits’ end.
In the midst of things, Lungu precipitately withdrew.
She was subsequently persuaded to wait for Nlemvo
in a room in the Grenfells’ house. But Nlemvo failed
to appear, and being sought and found, confessed that
he could not come because Mr. Grenfell was writing
in the next room. Finally a meeting was arranged,
* under the verandah.’ Nlemvo came ; and when it
transpired that Lungu had secured from him a promise
to send her a pair of earrings and an English dress,
all doubts of the validity of the engagement were
dismissed.

i6o The Coming of the ‘Peace’

On January 28 Grenfell started for a preliminary
exploration of the river above Stanley Pool, in a steel
boat twenty-six feet long, with a crew of five. The
story of this remarkable journey, which occupied five
weeks, will be told in detail in his own words in the
next chapter. In a private letter, dated ‘ Congo River,
Central Africa, Sunday, Feb. 17, 1884 (somewhere
about 1 8° 30' East Longitude, and i° of South Latitude),
in camp, under the shade of great trees, between a
sand-bank and a reef of rocks ’ — he gives an interesting
and vivid description of his surroundings, and becomes
a little rapturous about a glorious breakfast. Surmising
that his correspondent will deprecate such enthusiasm
about mere victuals, he goes on : ‘ Well, I can only say,
You just come out here, and live for three weeks in a
boat twenty-six feet long, and see if when you got
a good meal you would not mark the day.’ In the
same letter he writes : ‘ I don’t know whether you
understand why I undertook the journey. It was
because the whole of the steamer being at the Pool,
and the engineer due to arrive in a month or six weeks’
time, I did not care to go on farther with the work
of reconstruction, feeling that a professional man would
like to have as little as possible of an amateur’s tinker-
ing to do with. So I thought I would take advantage
of the time and run up river, and become acquainted
in some measure with the water we should have to
navigate.’

The journey was a great achievement and a great
success. But the home-coming was unspeakably sorrow-
ful. ‘ It was a sad welcome that awaited me at the Pool.
Terrible tidings of death and illness had just arrived,
and as Comber went out to have the flag hoisted at
half-mast, he spied my boat in the distance just rounding

1 6 1

Heavy Tiding-s

Kallina Point, so, not wishing to distress me with the
dismal signal, he ran the flag right up. By the time
I had reached the landing-place he was there to meet
me, and gradually unfolded such a list of evil tidings
as never fell upon my poor head in so short a time
before. . . . Crudgington and his wife both seriously
sick, making the possibility of their return to England
a contingency to be provided for, by one of the new
men being stationed with him, instead of coming up
country : Hughes just recovering from a serious illness
at Bayneston : Ross so sick at Manyanga that Comber
had to start off immediately to send him home, if it
were not already too late : Quentin Thomson dead at
Victoria : the two engineers sent out for the “ Peace ”
both dead, and the new missionary Hartley dead also.
Then, after I had been in the house a couple of hours,
and was beginning to open my letters, Comber told me
that my poor Father had gone too. . . . My condition
you can better imagine than I can describe.

‘ But we have not lost heart. We cannot but believe
more help will be speedily forthcoming. Such trials do
not kill the faith or quench the ardour of Christians,
and we feel sure the friends at home will redouble their
efforts on our behalf. Of course, it is very disappointing
to have our plans all knocked on the head for the time,
and for Mr. Comber to have to go down to Manyanga,
instead of up to Lukolela, as he would have done next
week, had all gone well. But we dare not grumble.
Who are we, that we should have been spared — yes,
more than spared, even blessed with health and strength,
while so many have had to give up the battle ? *

The sad deaths of the two engineers and the urgent
need of the ship for the purposes of the Mission, con-
strained Grenfell to throw aside all compunctions about

i62 The Coming* of the 6 Peace’

‘ amateur work * or ‘ tinkering/ and to proceed to put
the 4 Peace * together as God and his coloured workmen
might help him. The name of God is not lightly
introduced in this connection. Grenfell once said that
he thought the 4 Peace ’ had been prayed together.

On May io he reports progress, in the following
letter to Mr. Baynes : —

1 Stanley Pool. It is Saturday afternoon (our work-
people’s half-holiday for washing their clothes), and, as I
am not so tired as I usually find myself after a whole
day’s work on the “ Peace,” I shall take advantage of the
opportunity to write a note to let you know we have com-
pleted the important stage marked by the putting of the
boiler and machinery on board. The hull had already
been tested and found watertight, and we have just had
steam up in the boiler, and all its many joints have
proved perfectly sound. I feel, in accomplishing so
much, that we have made distinct progress, of which
you will be glad to be informed — such progress as
brings us within a measurable distance of the end.
Another week, I expect, will finish the deck ; by the
same time, too, the woodwork will have made con-
siderable progress — the past week has in part been
devoted to its preparation for being fixed. The wood-
work, as you will easily imagine, has suffered severely
during its long overland transport of 250 miles, and is
giving us a lot of trouble to make “ ship-shape ” again ;
the time it will yet take is rather an uncertain problem,
but I do not doubt that by the time you get this the
“ Peace ” will be ready for the water.

‘ If God blesses our efforts during the coming weeks
as He has during the past seven since the keel was
laid, Midsummer will find our work waiting for an
opportunity to launch. Unfortunately, the time will

The Work Half Done 163

be unsuitable, as it will be that of our lowest water.
At the present moment the height of the river would
allow of the launch ; but, as the fall will be sure to
commence in a day or two, we shall be compelled to
wait till the close of September or early October. By
that time I hope our strength will be such as to allow of
our taking advantage of the facilities we shall have for
pushing ahead ; for, as you do not need to be told, my
dear Mr. Baynes, at the present moment it is, and
indeed for some time will be, impossible to do so.

4 That we are so far and so well through more than
the worst half of our work is a cause for great thank-
fulness, and I trust that our expectations of a successful
termination will be realized. One of my kind friends,
without knowing what discouragements were in store
for me, has sent me the quotation from Jeremiah xxix.
11, “I know the thoughts that I think toward you,
saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to
give you an expected end.” You will easily understand
how opportune such gracious words have proved them-
selves, and how much strength and encouragement I
have drawn from them.

* My principal assistant in this work has been Shaw,
the Sierra Leone carpenter, who came down the coast
with me last year. Allan, the Accra blacksmith, too,
has rendered important service. John Greenhough,
Hanbury Hill, and Jonathan Scott, three youths from
our Cameroons Mission, complete the list of those who
have rendered skilled or intelligent service. John has
done the lion’s share of the riveting, and, as is usual
with him, whatever he may have in hand, he has done
it faithfully and well. John is the youth who accom-
panied Mr. Dixon to England in October last. James
Showers was looking forward to helping with the work,

1 64 The Coming* of the ‘Peace’

but family matters called him home to Victoria .in
December last; however, I am now looking out for
his return, and am expecting his help when we go
up river.

* I am hoping soon to see Mr. Comber back again at
the Pool ; for since the commencement of the year, with
the exception of a month, I have, like most of my
brethren, been alone, so far as brotherly help and
counsel are concerned. But I know so well the im-
portance of his mission down country, that I would not
for a moment hurry his return, much as I desire his
coming. I am afraid, however, if he does not succeed
in returning soon, he will only do so in time to pack up
and prepare for his journey home to England ; and
seeing that, hurry as best he may, he cannot now make
his absence from the “ old country ” much less than six
years, it is on every account desirable that he should
run no further risk by reason of delaying to seek his
way homeward.

‘Like many of my friends, you too, my dear Mr.
Baynes, will be wondering how it is you have heard so
little from me during the year. My long journey up
river, followed immediately by my being left alone with
the work of the “ Peace ” on my hands, is the excuse I
must urge ; and I trust you will allow its validity, and
that my friends will cease to think hard things of me
because so many kind letters have remained so long
unanswered.’

Two months later he writes with natural and
devout exultation reporting the accomplishment of his
task.

‘ Of God’s good favour we have been enabled to
launch with perfect safety the Mission steamship
“Peace,” and run a very satisfactory trial trip,

A Marvellous Sight 165

attaining a speed of nearly if not quite ten miles per
hour.

4 When I last wrote you I did not at all expect to
launch her before the autumn rise of the river, but by
carefully lowering her and making much longer launch-
ways, and by blasting some of the rocks, I have been
enabled to get her afloat, lowness of water notwith-
standing. Lowering such a craft is no light task ! It
was a marvellous sight in the eyes of the natives. Four
of the spars we used as launch-ways were more than
four feet in girth, and from forty to fifty feet in length,
and bringing them from a distance of more than three
miles, involved, as you may suppose, a large amount of
hard work. Such work, I know, might be considered
little wonder in England, but out here at Stanley Pool
it means really much more than most people can
appreciate. I am therefore all the more grateful that
the work is now well and safely accomplished.

* I am happy too in being able to say of those who
have helped me in this responsible task what Nehemiah
said of those who built the wall — “The people had a
mind to work ; ” and now like him, too, I can rejoice
that the good hand of our God has indeed been most
manifestly upon us. In a few days, after painting and
putting on a few finishing touches, we shall run a second
trip with the “ Peace,” and then I quite expect we shall
attain the maximum speed of twelve miles per hour.
This work, which was commenced scarcely three months
ago, has progressed without a single hitch of any kind,
and with much greater rapidity than any one of us dared
to hope, and now, to-day, by the blessing of God, we
are able to chronicle the desired end. Eight hundred
pieces, transported from England to Stanley Pool by rail,
steamer, and carriers — not one piece missing — and now

1 66 The Coming of the ‘Peace’

the whole work completed. Most clearly God’s finger
points

onward! forward!

And I cannot shut my eyes to the crying needs of the
untold multitudes of people on the four hundred miles
of the noble Upper Congo I have already traversed, or
my heart to the pressing claims of the multitudes yet
further beyond in the vast interior regions. We now
most earnestly need REINFORCEMENTS —

1 More Missionaries — so that we, indeed, may be
messengers of peace and goodwill to the poor, dark,
down-trodden millions in the heart of the vast continent,
and for whom the message we carry is the only real
eternal Hopei

When Comber returned to England, in many places,
he told in his own graphic manner the story of the
reconstruction of the ‘ Peace.’ His feeling at the time
of its completion is expressed in a letter to Mrs.
Hartland.

‘You will have heard how good God has been to us,
especially in the matter of the steamer — how dear old
Grenfell has alone accomplished the gigantic task of
reconstructing her. I can tell you we are proud of
Grenfell, and thankful to God for him.5

The enthusiasm of the natives, when steam was up
and she began to move, is reflected in the cry of one of
them : * She lives, master ! She lives ! 5

At the risk of some slight repetition, I close this
chapter with two letters. The first was written by
Grenfell to Mr. Sidney Barnaby, of the firm of Messrs.
Thornycroft, the expert in naval construction, who had
designed the ‘Peace.5 The second is Mr. Barnaby’s
comment on the letter and the piece of work it formally
reports.

MISSION STEAMER 1 PEACE ’ AT BOPOTO BEACH, UPPER CONGO.
Photo: Rev. Wm. Forfeitt ,

Details of Launching

167

‘ Stanley Pool,

‘July 6, 1884.

‘ It was exactly twelve weeks from the time of our
laying the keel till the launch, and she had not been in
the water more than twenty-four hours before we had
run a short trial trip — five miles or so — very satisfactorily.
Last week we ran our second trip, over fifty miles —
she did splendidly. Everything has been thoroughly
overhauled, and we are prepared to start up-river in the
morning with every confidence. Some of our friends
count me a bold man to attempt a long journey without
a professional engineer, but as I shall have with me the
people who have done all the work hitherto, I do not
feel that I need to be very anxious on that score ; of
course, I should like to turn over all responsibility to a
“ professional/’ if it were only possible.

"I am especially glad that I have been enabled to
launch the “Peace” earlier than I anticipated, as it
allows of Mr. Comber making a run up-river before his
return to England. I think when I wrote last I told
you that we should be compelled to wait till the autumn
rise of the river before we should have an opportunity
of launching ; but by making a sort of earthwork dam
thirty-six feet out into the river, and then baling out
the water and laying the launch-ways, we were enabled
to accomplish a work, with a good deal of labour, that
would have been extremely simple if we had had a tidal
river. The length of our launch-ways was twice the
length of the boat, and the cradle fifty-four feet : incline
of ways, one in fifteen. I think I fixed the ribands a
little too lightly, and that accounted for our having to
start her off twice with the jack-screws before she made
the plunge. There was no jerking or jolting of any
kind. I think also I told you I had built the steamer

1 68 The Coming of the ‘Peace’

“ on an even keel ; ” this necessitated lowering the stern
on to the ways by means of jack-screws. The cradle,
or at least forty-two feet of it, was fixed up to the
bottom of the boat-pin just forward of the propeller
casings ; the weight was then taken by the “jacks” and
the blocks removed, and as the lowering proceeded the
forward end was carefully wedged up. The “ principals ”
of the after cradle were two fine hardwood beams nine
inches square (they were dragged from the forest three
miles away) ; after they, together with the steamer, were
lowered into their place, the forward cradle was fixed,
“dogged” on, and the whole business wedged up.
Lowering and fixing cradles occupied three hours.
Our lowering the steamer was even a greater wonder
than launching her, in the eyes of the natives. She
came down very easily and smoothly.

‘As yet we have not maintained a higher working-
pressure than fifty-five pounds ; by cutting off at the
first notch we have managed with careful piecing to
keep up to seventy for a little while, and by economizing
we are able to get up to one hundred pounds for a spurt,
but it soon runs down. Priming bothered us a bit at
first, but we are learning better how to manage that.
The water collects mud faster in the starboard engine
than the port ; I shall learn why some day. I have
screwed the safety-valve down to one hundred and
twenty pounds. I am becoming more resigned to the
safety-valve box, considering the rate at which we make
steam. I’m glad of a big valve. Pm very glad too
that it is not open to the funnel ; when it blew off in
that case, it would only increase the draught at a
moment when it is not wanted at all.

‘ The “ Henry Reed ” is not all here yet, but work
upon her has just commenced. The “ Stanley ” is

An Expert’s Comment 169

coming up overland. I am most anxious to see her.
From what I hear, the “ Peace ” is very likely to be the
fastest of the Congo fleet.

‘ I shall be very grateful for any hints you may be
able to furnish me with upon points likely to be over-
looked by an amateur.’

In February of 1907, after Grenfell’s death, Mr.
Sidney Barnaby writes —

* The letter dated July 6, 1884, describing the
launch of the “ Peace ” is a record of a really fine piece
of work, which would have done credit to any engineer.
The “ Peace,” as you know, was by no means an
ordinary type of launch. She was one of the first
vessels built with propellers in tunnels, the first to be
fitted with Thornycroft water-tube boilers, and the
first with screw-turbine propellers. In addition to all
these novel features, requiring great care in recon-
struction and in handling, she was built of very thin
plating. These special features were necessitated by
the extremely difficult conditions which were imposed
upon her designers. A speed of twelve miles an hour
had to be attained in a boat seventy feet long and
carrying four tons load, all on a draught of water of
twelve inches. The result was that you could not have
set a man a more difficult task than Grenfell was set
in re-erecting and managing the boat. Add to this,
that the boat had to be carried up from the coast in
porters’ loads when there was no proper track, that two
engineers whom we sent up to assist him died on the
march up-country, and that he had to depend entirely
upon unskilled black labour for the riveting up and
launching of the vessel, and I am sure any one will
agree that the success he achieved was magnificent.
The “ Goodwill,” which was a much larger vessel of the

170 The Coming1 of the ‘Peace’

same type, although presenting many difficulties, came
more easily to him after the experience gained with
the “ Peace.”

‘The simple record he gives of the launch of the
“Peace” in his letter of 1884 makes light of the
difficulties, which can only be appreciated by a technical
mind.

4 He was a man who would have made his mark in
any sphere of life, yet I have not met one more modest,
or one who thought less of his own achievements/

CHAPTER VIII

BOAT JOURNEY TO THE EQUATOR

Up-river Journey — Equipment— The Start— The Medicine Man—
Mswata— The Kwango— Chumbiri— Bolobo— Night in the
Forest— River Dangers— Lukolela Towns— Nebu— Stanley’s
Equator Station— The Return Journey — The Need of Help.

IN this chapter is given Grenfell’s official account of
his intrepid journey in the whale-boat, which he
made while waiting for the arrival of the engineers, who
died by the way. Some few particulars, culled from
private letters, have already been given. Concerning
this exploit Comber wrote : ‘ The full value, to the
Congo Mission, of this interior journey of Mr. Grenfell,
few can understand. He has passed over more than a
third of the entire route between Stanley Pool and the
goal of the Congo Mission. Already, with the eye of
faith and hope, we see the great and noble idea of the
Congo Mission realized. The road is ready and the
path made straight. The peoples are willing and im-
ploring us to come. The whole land open, and all the
inhabitants in darkness and degradation. Brothers at
home, come over and help us. Come ! Come quickly,
I implore you ! *

* Stanley Pool, Congo River, South-West Africa,

‘March 5? 1884.

‘ I believe you have already been informed of my
intention of making the up-river, interior journey upon

172 Boat Journey to the Equator

which I started on January 28, and from which I
returned in safety yesterday.

‘By taking advantage of the opportunity afforded
by the present low-water season, I have become much
better acquainted with the rocks and sand-banks of the
Upper Congo than could possibly have been the case
had I deferred my trip, as the water will soon begin to
rise and these obstacles be partly hidden. It needs no
argument to prove the importance of such information ;
the fact that we are contemplating the navigation of
the river, in the “ Peace,” during both high and low water
seasons, involves the necessity for becoming acquainted
with its difficulties when at their worst. So, with the
idea of making a sketch of such portions of the river as
I could cover during the four or five weeks Mr. Comber
and myself thought I could be spared for the work, and
pending the arrival of the engineer, I started off in the
small steel boat which is to serve as a “ tender ” to the
steamer. This boat is twenty-six feet long, and was
manned by a crew of five, together with a boy from San
Salvador, one from Makwekwe and myself, making up
a party of eight “all told.”

‘We took with us five hundred brass rods, two feet
long, and one-seventh of an inch thick (being the
currency of the country), with which to purchase food
and meet the expenses of the journey. We also took
a tin trunk containing cloth, knives, looking-glasses,
beads, and other trifles that the African delights in.
In the way of food we took a week’s supply of cassada
puddings and a small bag of rice ; but as food proved
plentiful this last was scarcely touched. Some cocoa,
tea, and sugar, together with a small supply of medicines,
I stowed away in another tin trunk for my own special
benefit. I also took a tent, that I might sleep ashore

A Sombre Gate

173

when opportunity offered, and the camp bed the Onslow
Chapel Sunday School children were good enough to
give me, and for which, as I now write, I feel especially
grateful, remembering as I do how nicely it kept me dry
on many a rainy night.

‘Besides all these things we had to take cooking
utensils, an axe, a couple of hatchets, hammer, and
nails, some spare rope and a spare oar, so that altogether
we collected a considerable cargo for our small craft,
though it did not appear very much when we thought
upon the possible exigencies of such a voyage as that
we were entering upon.

‘ It took us twenty-four days to reach our turning-
point at the Equator and about 180 E. long., a distance
of about 400 miles (700 miles from the sea coast) ; ten
days sufficed for our return.

‘After making a start, the first two days were
occupied in getting to the far end of the Pool, a part
of our journey remarkable only for the number of sand-
banks, hippopotami, and mosquitoes to be encountered.
When in December last I made a trip as far as this
point, where the Congo pours its impetuous flood into
the wide expanse of Stanley Pool, I had been greatly
impressed with the forbidding aspect of the scene.

‘Here, stretching away before us was the open
avenue leading into the very heart of the “continent
mysterieux ” as our neighbours call it. Steep, tree-clad
hills of a thousand feet or so on each side of the fast-
running and far-coming Congo, reflected their dark-
green hues in its waters, making in the evening light
so sombre a picture that one could well excuse, if the
mystery had not been already solved, a superstitious
dread of attempting to penetrate the unknown through
such an unpropitious-looking gate. And though I

174 Boat Journey to the Equator

knew, and those with me also knew, what I have since
proved for myself, that long stretches of joyous country,
glorious in all Nature’s tropical beauty, and that great
and numerous tribes, revelling in bounteous plenty, were
to be found lining the banks of the waterway beyond,
none of us could resist the melancholy glamour of the
view.

‘ The morning effect was the same when we left the
Pool to enter upon the Upper Congo proper ; so it was
not due to the evening light, as I had thought, though
it was, perhaps, partly due to the contrast between the
brilliantly white Dover Cliffs and glistening sand-banks
we had just left, and the sober-hued tree-clad hills
which rose almost precipitously from the water’s edge.
But, however forbidding the scene may have been, it
certainly had no message for us, for the good hand of
our God was upon us all through — it was, nevertheless,
not too dark a portent of the condition in which we
found the people. And, though I am accustomed to
look upon a very sad state of affairs as being normally
the state of the African, yet again and again all my
sympathies were evoked, as yours would have been, my
dear Mr. Baynes, by the multiplied sorrows which have
fallen to the lot of these poor people, for whom there is
no hope save in God’s great mercy, and in His message
which we are trying to declare.

‘After the two days spent in passing through the
Pool came another two days of similarly incidentless
travel through a similarly uninhabited district — more
hippopotami, more mosquitoes ; only the sand-banks
were changed for far more serious obstacles in the shape
of long reefs of felspathic rocks that bristled along our
course in a most embarrassing manner. On the fourth
evening we camped on an island in company with a

The Rain Doctor

175

party of Wabuma who were bound down river to
Ntamo.

A storm threatening, the medicine man of the party
commenced chanting an ear-splitting strain and vigor-
ously shaking a rattle, in the attempt to drive away the
coming rain. But, do what he would, and he very
distressingly increased his efforts, the rain came nearer
and nearer, and then fell, and, notwithstanding the
enchantment, kept on falling. Apparently nothing
daunted, however, he kept on also. After nearly a
couple of hours it did cease, and left him claiming to be
victorious, and at the same time, I am sure, sadly
tired out.

‘Towards morning another outbreak of the storm
threatening, the rain doctor was more modest, and
chanted, “ O ! for a little rain, let a little rain come ;
but not a big rain, not a flood, just a little rain, let a
little rain come.” But the inevitable downpour came as
only tropical rain can come, and the rain doctor ran and
hid himself, or else to seek shelter, under the mats which
formed part of the cargo of the canoe. In the morning,
after bidding adieu to our Wabuma friends, we got
under weigh for our fifth day’s journey. I did not see
the rain doctor. I am afraid he got rather an unmerciful
chaffing from our crew ; for the rain sadly pelted them,
and would not let them sleep.

‘ We had not proceeded far before we came to
inhabited country wearing quite a different aspect to
that we had been passing during the previous four days,
and shortly after noon we were hospitably received at
Mr. Stanley’s station at Mswata. The personal appear-
ance of Gobela, the chief of this town, very vividly
reminded me of the King of Kongo, though he is not
nearly such a big man. He is one of those men with

176 Boat Journey to the Equator

intelligent minds and kindly hearts who make us hopeful
for the future of this dark land.

‘Ten or twelve more miles the next day brought us
to the point where the Kwango (or Ibari Nkutu) pours
its waters into the Congo. Here Mr. Stanley has
another station, where again I was hospitably received
by the Swedish officer in charge, with whom I stayed and
spent the following day, it being Sunday. On Monday
morning we commenced our journey again by crossing
the mouth of the Kwango, going a little way up stream
to prevent being carried out into mid-Congo by its very
strong current. The south bank, along which the whole
of our up-journey lay, now becomes very populous,
contrasting very remarkably with the northern bank ; but
I learn that, though there are no towns on the river-side,
there is a very considerable Bateke population only a
few miles inland.

‘ The people we encountered were characteristically
African in their desire to trade with us ; there seemed
to be nothing for which they were not anxious to barter
their brass rods, and appeared to be sadly disappointed
because we would only buy food and not change cloth
for brass rods, or buy ivory or slaves, both of which
latter we had constantly to refuse. Among the articles
most sought after were the boat anchor, the flag (the
ensign our beloved Treasurer, Mr. Tritton, gave us), and
my spectacles. One young man was sorely hurt, and
thought I must have some personal prejudice against
him, when I refused to let him have them for five brass
rods — an extravagant price in his sight.

‘ It was one long succession of towns for nearly the
whole of Monday, till we arrived at the famous Chum-
biri’s in the afternoon of Tuesday, where we slept. He
has still the same quiet, plausible way Mr. Stanley so

1 77

Dragon’s Teeth

well describes, and although he is, of course, much older,
his portrait in Through the Dark Continent is still a
“ good likeness.” I had no exemplification of his special
ability, but I have no doubt, from the little I saw, that
he could well sustain the role “of the most plausible
rogue of all Africa.” He seemed greatly pleased by
the gift of an old soldier’s coat in return for his gift of
fish and plantain for my people.

‘This part of the river is the rockiest reach of
waterway it has ever fallen to my lot to traverse ;
the bays were like great mouths armed with, I think,
the most uncompromising dragon’s teeth that Mother
Nature ever fashioned. Another day through an equally
populous and rocky portion of the river, and we came to
a broad expanse like another Stanley Pool, studded
with islands and sand-banks ; and, however trying sand-
banks may be to one’s patience, they don’t shock one’s
nerves half so forcibly as the sudden “ pulling up ” on
some biting, grinding rock.

‘A day and a half through this wide portion of the
Congo and we reached Bolobo, another of Mr. Stanley’s
stations, and after a pleasant break in the routine of
camp life started again up river, still keeping along the
mainland, and not threading our way between the
numberless islands ; this, so as to come into contact
with the people whose large and well-built towns lined
the bank for the whole of the next two days. The
people hereabouts were mostly timid, but proved, as
soon as we were able to open communications, to be
well-disposed. At first sight of the boat they generally
beat a precipitate retreat, and sometimes we were unable
to open negotiations, but mostly, however, some one or
two of more than usually brave spirit would remain
within earshot, and prove sufficient for breaking the ice.

178 Boat Journey to the Equator

One town refused to let us use their beach as a camping-
ground, but it was partly our own fault ; for we arrived
just as it was growing dark, and naturally enough the
people were afraid of visitors arriving at, to them,
untimely hours. I feel sure that if we had had only
half an hour’s daylight in which to treat, we should
have smoothed every difficulty. The consequence was
we had to cross to a sand-bank about a mile away, and
had to scramble in the dark for firewood on one of the
small islands that lay in our course.

* Our camping ground was a triangle of two hundred
or three hundred square yards area, an uncomfortable
spot, lots of mosquitoes, and a herd of hippos on two
sides of us, and not more than thirty yards away. These
latter are disagreeable neighbours, their bellowing is
something terrible, but their tramp with its heavy thud
close to one’s tent is even more disconcerting, and not
at all a reassuring sensation with which to try to get to
sleep again after having been rudely awakened.

‘ We broke up a quantity of our firewood, and when
they ventured too close we pelted them, keeping our
guns in reserve for an actual invasion ; and, after setting
two to watch, the rest of us went to sleep. But the
sticks proved ineffectual, and one of the beasts had to
pay with his life for a rude stampede across our narrow
territory out of hours. We did not wish to resort to
extreme measures, because a shot might only wound
and infuriate, and an infuriated hippo is not to be trifled
with, and also because we did not wish to arouse our
already nervous neighbours, who would not let us sleep
on their beach, and make them still more afraid. The
death of one hippo secured us a temporary lull, but
a couple more hours had not elapsed before a second
fell ; this made the fourth since noon of the previous

Aggressive Hippopotami 1 79

day. The two first we killed for “ chop,” not but that
one was more than enough, but by aiming at two out
of a herd in the hope of getting one, Ebokea and myself
brought down one apiece with our first shots. However,
it was not a case of waste ; for, after taking for ourselves
what we wanted, the natives came and cut them up,
and took away the provision for many a good feast ;
and I hope they thought none the less kindly of the
white man and his people who in passing had killed for
them the game they were afraid to tackle.

‘The day following we passed two or three towns,
and then a great change came over the country, the
high cliffs and breezy hills giving place to low swampy
ground. For three days we wended our way along the
narrow channels separating the bank from the islands, of
not more than two hundred yards in width, these being
the habitat of innumerable wild fowl and hippopotami.
These latter proved a great trouble, and often made our
course a tortuous one in our attempts to avoid them.
One of them came up right under the boat, lifting the
stern out of the water ; another left the mark of his
teeth in the steel plate. In the former case, as I felt
myself “going up,” I had time to think of the well-
known picture in Livingstone’s first book depicting a
similar incident ; but we had a better fate than fell to
the occupants of his canoe, for we came down again all
right, and suffered nothing worse than a bit of a soaking,
a good shake up, and a general scare all round. Our
good steel boat stood the shock very much better than
a wooden one twice its weight would have done ; in fact,
I very much doubt if a wooden boat would have survived
both rocks and hippos.

‘On the sixth day from Bolobo we reached the
Lukolela towns, at the farther extremity of which

180 Boat Journey to the Equator

Mr. Stanley has his next station ; this one in charge of
an Englishman, Mr. E. J. Glave, who gave me a hearty
welcome, and with whom I had a stroll in the afternoon
through the towns to the chiefs house. The natives
were all most friendly, and, just as I was starting up
the river again the next morning, the chief, Mungaba,
sent one of his wives with a basket of specially prepared
cassada pudding, a supply which sufficed for two meals
a day during the next fortnight, and for which I was
very grateful. At Lukolela the river assumes a more
usual character, and is content with a channel a couple
of miles in width in place of from five to twelve,
which often obtain during the previous sixty miles
or so.

‘The country here is densely wooded along the
river, which is flanked on each side by picturesque hills,
which furnish sites for the towns. In the rear of the
hills open country abounding in game is to be found.
The soil is of the richest quality, food is abundant, and
building material of the best kind is immediately on
the spot. These things, together with the healthiness
of the place, which is vouched for by Mr. Glave’s appear-
ance, and the kindly disposition of the people, point, in
my mind, to the desirability of the place as a site for
one of our future stations.

‘Half a day’s journey through the comparatively
narrow channel of a couple of miles or so, and we were
away into a broad expanse of island-dotted water again,
with the northern bank quite obscured, and probably
some eight miles distant from the track we followed.
In this next and last stage of our journey, extending
over six days, we passed no long succession of towns,
as we did between the Kwango and Bolobo ; but on
three of the long rocky points which jut out into the

Return Journey 181

river between long stretches of low-lying land we passed
the important towns of Mabelo, Mpumba, and Ngombe ;
and then we came upon three large towns lying close
together and within five miles of the point where the
Mantumbo enters the Congo, and about forty miles
south of the Equator. Nebu, at the junction of the two
rivers, is one of the largest, if not the largest, town I
have ever seen in this part of Africa. The people were
all friendly, and gave us goats, fowls, fish, and plantain
in such abundance that I had to leave some, promising
to take them on my return.

‘At the Equator, and near the Ikelemba or Uriki
River, we entered upon another populous district. Here
Mr. Stanley has established another station, and left it
in charge of two Belgian officers ; and, being the first
visitor who had put in an appearance at this far-away
post, I was heartily received by these gentlemen.

‘Having reached the Equator, and my time being
nearly exhausted, I had to turn my face homeward,
though I had a pilot ready to take me, and the way
seemed to be open, as far as Bangala, some eight or ten
days beyond, and about midway between Stanley Pool
and Stanley Falls. So, crossing the river, I proceeded
to follow the north bank downward, as I had followed
the south bank upward, making a point of calling at all
towns and trying to enter into friendly relationship with
the people — which necessitated, of course, comparatively
slow progress. After a couple of days’ very encouraging
results to my attempts at being on friendly terms, I
had, for lack of time, to relinquish the idea of visiting
more towns, and to strike straight away home.

‘After having been so far, and being so kindly
received, even in places where hitherto the natives have
been hostile to the white man, I cannot but be devoutly

182 Boat Journey to the Equator

grateful for the protection of the Almighty and for His
goodness in preparing my way.

‘How much this part of Africa stands in need of
help I cannot tell you ; words seem utterly inadequate.
I cannot write you a tithe of the woes that have come
under my notice, and have made my heart bleed as I
have journeyed along. Cruelty, sin, and slavery seem
to be as mill-stones around the necks of the people,
dragging them down into a sea of sorrows. Never have
I felt more sympathy than now I feel for these poor
brethren of ours, and never have I prayed more earnestly
than now I pray that God will speedily make manifest
to them that light which is the light of life, even Jesus
Christ our living Lord.’

The story of the doleful news that awaited Grenfell
on his return from this great journey, and of how he
arose from his grief, ‘ waxed strong in God/ and rebuilt
and launched the ‘ Peace/ has been told.

CHAPTER IX

THE FIRST VOYAGE OF THE
‘ PEACE ’

Success of the ‘ Peace —Meeting with Sir Francis de Winton— Unruly
Schoolboys— Wood-cutting— The Kwa— Mushie Town— Nga
Nkabi — Chumbiri’s Town — The Lone Island — A Difficult
Channel— The Bayansi— Moie— Eighty Chiefs— The Bolobo
People— Human Sacrifices— The Banunu — Lukolela — Ngombe
—The Wangi River — The Lulongo River— Dense Population—
Boshende Towns— Blood Brotherhood— Equatorial Towns-
Dress, Arms, and Cruelty of the People— Modes of Execution—
The Ruki River— Bangala Towns— Character of the Natives—
Mengaba— Need for Caution— Bokolela Towns— Liboko— Site
of Stanley’s Battle— Mata Mayiki— Tattooing— Results.

HE long letter which constitutes the body of this

1 chapter was printed in the Missionary Herald of
January, 1885, and awakened intense interest in the
Congo Mission, far beyond the bounds of the Baptist
Denomination. Portions of it have already been
reprinted in other volumes ; but it is so vivid and
memorable a document that I am constrained to give
it almost unabridged. It was the joint production of
the two pioneers, and addressed to Mr. Baynes.

In a private communication of the same date,
Grenfell writes : * Comber and I are preparing a letter
describing our experiences. I have finished my share
of it, and I expect he will have his ready by the time
this mail leaves. So you may look for an account of
our journey in the Herald very shortly, and I won’t

184 First Voyage of the ‘Peace’

therefore go into details concerning it. Everything
went well, and smoothly.’

How the task of authorship was divided, and what
portions of the letter were actually written by Grenfell
himself, are matters upon which I can give no authori-
tative information. Probably the original MSS. are in
the Mission House, but to look them up and to determine
these points would be to rob the critical reader of the
pleasure of interesting speculation.

‘ Stanley Pool, Congo River,
‘August 21, 1884.

‘You will have been expecting further news of the
steamship “Peace,” and also, before this, of her first
journey ; but you will allow that her having been built,
launched, having made the necessary trial trips, and run
a journey of 1200 miles all within a few days more
than four months, has not left much time for letter-
writing. Then, again, until we had really given our
little craft a thorough trial, we were not in a position
to speak of our success as amateur shipwrights and
engineers ; but now that we have safely returned from
Bangala, a point midway between the Pool and Stanley
Falls, we feel we can speak more confidently about our
work, and better calculate the possibilities before us.

‘ Friends at home will be glad to learn that the
“ Peace ” answers every expectation in the matters of
speed, simplicity, and comfort. We need never be
afraid of being caught by canoes, if we have only good
firewood on board and wish to keep out of the way.
As to simplicity of management, I think it will suffice
for us to tell you that we ran the whole distance without
any mishap that involved delay, or even the stoppage of
the engines. Thanks to our exceptionally light draught,

Eight Unruly Cubs 185

and the warnings given by the lead, the sandbanks
gave us very little trouble, there being no place where,
after a little searching, a channel could not be found.
Even with four days’ fuel on board, and our multifarious
stores of barter goods and food, we only drew a little
more than fifteen inches. One thing that helped us
not a little was the experience gained in the small boat
at the commencement of the year, Ebokea, who pulled
stroke oar on that occasion, doing most of the steering.

‘ It was our pleasure, during the first ten days of our
journey, to have the company of Colonel Sir Francis de
Winton, Administrator-in-Chief of the International
Association, and also that of our good friend Mr. Gill,
of Stanley Pool, who was acting as his secretary. Sir
Francis was a most agreeable fellow-traveller, taking a
very real and sympathetic interest in every phase of our
work, from the establishment and modes of procedure
at our stations, down to taking his turn at the wheel,
wood-cutting, and bread-making. He is a thorough-
going campaigner, and so can manage to enjoy life
anywhere. You may be sure we enjoyed his company.

‘ In addition to ourselves, Mr. Maloney, who had
come up from Wathen, our passengers, our crew of a
dozen, and three men we were taking to prepare the
ground for building at Lukolela, we ventured to take
with us eight of our schoolboys, thinking that to take
them a long journey would tend to enlarge their ideas
of things : the world is a very little place to some of their
minds. But, however desirable it may be to enlarge
their ideas, we very much question if either of us will
ever again face the responsibility of personally con-
ducting a part of eight unruly cubs for a twelve-hundred-
mile tour. In the cold morning the stoker was their
very dear friend ; in fact, so attached did they become

1 86 First Voyage of the ‘Peace’

to the stoke-hole that most of them left bits of their skin
sticking to the steam-pipes, contenting themselves for a
time with a few swathes of bandaging, with rolls of
which we were fortunately fairly well provided. In the
middle of the day, when the stoke-hole had lost its
charms, the water became a great temptation to them,
and a constant source of anxiety to us ; for not only
were there the risks consequent upon their not being
able to swim, but the grave possibility of hungry croco-
diles being on the prowl. On one occasion we came
very near to disaster. A boy, while playing, fell over-
board, dragging another with him, who, like himself,
could not swim. Happily, the small boat was able to
reach them without much loss of time, and we are now
rejoicing in the fact that notwithstanding the risks of
fire, water, and rapidly revolving machinery, by God’s
good favour we have brought them all safely back
again.

'Though our youngsters were such a trouble to us,
they could be very helpful at times, especially when
fire-wood had to be carried from some little distance in
the forest. Cutting wood was our big work from day to
day. Everybody joined in it, and we did fairly if we
managed to get enough in three or four hours to suffice
for the remainder of the day. On these occasions
quantity was not the only desideratum : if we had bad
wood it meant going at three or four miles an hour ;
with good wood we managed ten.

‘ But though fire-wood was a constant care, and
involved many an anxious look out, as we wended
our way between apparently interminable sandbanks,
travelling in the “ Peace ” was luxurious, compared
with journeying in our twenty-six feet boat, which
sufficed for the journey to the Equator at the com-

A Thriee-told Tale

187

mencement of the year. We were especially grateful
for the awning, furnishing, as it does, such a splendid
protection from both sun and rain — ever present con-
tingencies on the Congo ; for though we start in the
cold season we are not half way along the Congo before
we are into the hot, and though we start in the dry, as
we did this time, before we reach Bangala we find the
rainy season in full swing.

4 A reviewer, criticizing the account of a recent voyage
up the Congo, refers to it as a “ thrice-told tale,” and the
newspapers just to hand are so full of Congo news that
we can easily imagine it possible that by the time this
reaches you, our friends at home may be tired of the
whole business. But whatever M.P.s and merchants may
do with the Congo, the Congo Mission, as a Baptist
Missionary Society question, remains the same ; nay,
with increasing light and better knowledge of the people
and country, our work appears as more and more
imperative, and we are thus constrained to lay the matter
even more fully before you, our brethren, at home.

‘Having decided we could devote five weeks to a
prospecting tour in the “ Peace,” we were enabled to get
under way by nine o’clock on July 7, and by the
time for dropping anchor in the evening we found our-
selves right beyond the Pool, and well into the narrow
portion of the Congo, which extends for about a hundred
miles. (We trust our friends who read this letter will do so
with our map before them, as it will greatly help them to
form an idea of what we have done and what we propose
to do.) The next day brought us almost to Mswata,
which, counting Kinshasa and Kimpoko, on the Pool,
is the third International station beyond Leopoldville.
Having passed Mswata and proceeded five miles, we
come in sight of the French station at Ganchu’s, on the

1 88 First Voyage of the ‘Peace’

opposite — the right — bank. Another five miles brought
us to the next International station, at Kwamouth.

‘ At this point we determined to forsake the Congo
for awhile, and started the following morning to go up
the Kwa, or the Hari Nkutu — which the natives call the
Bochini — as far as the junction which it makes with the
Kwango. This furnished us with some little excitement,
for we were rather uncertain as to the temper of the
people, and knew nothing of the character of the river.
So far as we could learn, it had only once previously
been visited, and that time by Mr. Stanley, some two
years ago. A map, which appeared in Mr. Johnston’s
recent book, gives the distance to the junction as twenty-
five or thirty miles east of the point where the Kwa falls
into the Congo. We found it fully three times as far,
and had many and many an anxious look across the
miles of sandbanks from the awning-top before we got
a glimpse of the water-way we sought. Its being so
much farther than we had expected resulted in a greater
curtailment of the time we had at our disposal for the
main river than we had bargained for. However, we
were well repaid for making the dkour , by our coming
into contact with the chieftainess of the Wabuma, a
strong-minded woman, who rules one of the most
important trading communities on the Congo.

4 The Kwa for the first thirty miles has a mean
course of N.E., between steep grass-and-shrub-covered
sandy hills, of from two hundred to five hundred feet in
height, and having narrow fringes of timber along the
water’s edge and in the valleys. Along this reach of
the river, which has a width varying from a quarter
to three-quarters of a mile, navigation involves great
care, by reason of the many rocky reefs which stretch
themselves out into nearly mid-stream. From N.E. the

189

A Lady Pilot

course gradually wears round into an easterly one for
another thirty miles or so; but where the course
changes near the friendly town of Bo, the river takes
upon itself the character of the higher reaches of the
Congo, widening itself out among sandbanks and
islands into lake-like expansions, of from two to five
miles wide, and five to fifteen miles long.

‘ It was after journeying about fifty miles, and
passing the second of these expansions, that we came
in sight of Nga Nkabi’s Mushie town (the capital of
the Wabuma country), which is a series of hamlets,
extending some two or three miles along the north
bank. We rather hurt her ladyship’s feelings by not
steaming straight away till we came opposite her
residence. However, by getting up anchor again, and
accepting her personal pilotage, we were able to comply
with her notions as to what was the proper thing to be
done, and to drop anchor within a stone’s-throw of her
house. She is a very capable, energetic woman, of but
few words, but who evidently knows her own mind and
rules her subjects, though she made but few pretensions
in the way of state ceremony. Whatever her rule may
be, her people are, without exception, the best specimens
of the African we encountered on our journey.

‘ Altogether Nga Nkabi’s town was the most pro-
mising position we saw for a mission station ; and we
trust our numbers will soon be sufficiently augmented
to allow of our occupying this point, where we are
assured of a welcome. Of course, they have but very
indistinct notions concerning our object, though we tried
to tell them. More could not be looked for from a
single visit. They are quite expecting us.

‘ After leaving the two or three miles of hamlets
constituting Mushie the river trends S. by E. for about

190 First Voyage of the ‘Peace’

thirty miles to its junction with the Kwango, which
comes from the S.S.E., and is a fine stream of four
hundred to five hundred yards wide, with an average
depth of two fathoms and a mean current of a mile and
a half per hour. Though this is a very considerable
river (Livingstone speaks of it as very swift and one
hundred and fifty yards wide at a point five hundred
miles south of where we saw it), yet we judge it to be
very much smaller than the one from the N.E. explored
by Mr. Stanley as far as Lake Leopold in i° 30' S. lat.
We should have liked to push our way up both these
streams, but had to be content with going a mile or two
up the Kwango. Here we noticed that instead of the
hitherto universal four-walled houses, the natives built
round ones, which denoted pretty plainly our having
reached the borderland of a distinct people.

‘ Having just had a look at the Kwango, we set out
upon our return to the point of our departure, calling at
our friend Nga Nkabi’s, and spending an hour or two
there on the way, occupying in coming down a little
more than a day and a half in covering a distance that
had required five days for the ascent. By the time we
reached Kwamouth, Sir Francis found one of the
expedition steamers waiting to convey him to the
Pool, whither he at once proceeded. The following
morning we resumed our Congo voyage, leaving Kwa-
mouth, which we determined by observation to be in
30 14' south latitude, and proceeded northward. Our
next stage, like our previous one on the Congo, was
characterized by few or no people on the right bank,
though we passed a whole series of towns on the
left.

f We had heard that the chief of Chumbiri’s town,
which was our first stopping-place, had been deposed and

The Lone Island

191

killed by his son ; so we were quite prepared to find
another ruling in his stead, but hardly prepared for the
son’s version of the matter — that his father had gone
up river to buy ivory ! We were unable to decide upon
its truth, and had to put up with his oily pretensions of
friendship for ourselves, and the grease and powdered
redwood which he transferred from his person to our
clothes, as he persistently took our arms and squeezed
himself in between us as we walked the narrow paths
of his town. Here it was that we found a San Salvador
man, who had been sold away as a slave. He was very
glad to see some one who knew his country, and
recognized in that fact that he had an extra claim upon
our generosity, and we had not the heart to dispute it
with the poor stranger in a strange land. San Salvador
lies very near all our hearts.

‘ Soon after leaving Chumbiri’s, we came in sight
of the Lone Island, which, though apparently standing
all by itself, as we proceed we discover to be only the
first of the countless islands which are the ever-present
feature of the river from this point to Stanley Falls.
Hereabouts, too, we exchange the deep water and the
dangerous reefs of rocks for shallows and sandbanks so
numerous and channels so intricate that we often lose
sight of the main land and have to rely upon our
compass for the course. The current certainly tells us
whether we are going up or down, but when the channel
is two miles wide to “ go up ” or " down,” is not always
sufficient. It is important to steer a straight course,
and hit the right bank, and not to wander about in a
maze at haphazard, and find oneself on the wrong one.
After thirty miles or so among these islands and sand-
banks, the hills once more approach the river, and on
the slope of these hills on the eastern bank, ranging for

i92 First Voyage of the ‘Peace’

about a couple of miles, we find the Bolobo towns, of
which Ibaka is the supreme chief.

‘In Bolobo, as in Chumbiri — and indeed, having
scattered themselves everywhere, right down to the
cataracts below the Pool — we find the Bayansi, or, as
they call themselves, the Babangi people, all having
emigrated from the Mubangi, opposite Ngombe. In
adjacent Moie we find Banunu people, the Banunu
being probably the indigenous race. Inland are said
to be the Batende. Bolobo has, as we have said above,
about two miles of villages composing its town. Moie
is rather bigger than Bolobo, and its villages, each
under its separate chieftain, extend further back from
the river and higher up the sides of the ioo feet hill
which backs them.

‘ Between Bolobo and Moie there is generally enmity,
and one can generally reckon, too, on internal dissensions
in each district, one chief of Bolobo frequently not being
“ on speaking terms ” with his fellow chief. Although
Ibaka is the special and perhaps biggest chief of Bolobo
(being the white man’s chief or friend), he is not by any
means the only one. There are Lingenji, Yambula,
Katula, Oruru, Yinga, Biangala, Itumba, etc., etc. — in
all eighty chiefs ! The chief characteristics of Bolobo
people appear to be drunkenness, immorality , and cruelty ,
out of each of which vices spring actions almost too
fearful to describe. In hearing of these, one living out
here almost gets to feel like calling the people terrible
brutes and wretches, rather than poor miserable heathen.
The light of their consciences must condemn them in
most of their sins.

‘On the afternoon of our arrival, accompanied by
Lieut. Liebrecht, of the Association Internationale, we
walked through all the towns of Bolobo and Moie. In

193

Heathen Tragedies

Bolobo it was a great day, a gala day, indeed. The
wife of one of the chiefs had died somewhere away, and,
of course, there must be four or five days and nights of
orgies — any amount of dirty sugar-cane-beer swilling,
unbridled license in every species of sensuality, and a
grand finale of four human sacrifices, each victim, mark
you, being a poor wretch of a slave bought for the purpose !
Drums beating briskly, circles of “ fine ” women, wearing
the great heavy brass collar (25 to 30 lbs. !), dancing
and clapping rhythmically, and plenty of people about
in all the streets. The victims were tied up somewhere ;
of course, they would not tell us where ; but were said
to be apathetically and stolidly awaiting their fate —
bowstring or knife — both being Babangi ways of killing.
Remonstrances and pleadings on behalf of these poor
victims were all in vain. Another cruel tragedy was
also to shortly take place. Prices of certain food were
to be arranged, and, as a sign or seal of such arrange-
ment, a slave was to be killed thus — a hole was to be
dug between the two towns, and the victim’s arms and
legs broken, and he thrown into the hole to die, no one
being allowed to give him food or drink. Oh, Christians
at home, think of this ! Very few children are seen in
any Babangi town, and this may easily be explained
by the immorality of the people. The towns are kept
large, and the population sustained, chiefly by the pur-
chase of slaves, who frequently receive the tribal mark
— two rows of raised blebs along the forehead from ear
to ear.

‘The Moie towns look very pretty from the river,
many of them being very picturesquely laid out. The
Banunu inhabitants are at present shyer than the Bolobo
Babangi, and communication with them has hitherto
been more difficult. The women and children (the

194 First Voyage of the ‘Peace’

Banunu have more children than the Babangi) frequently
ran away; one young woman especially, whom we
noticed, actually showed her teeth at us viciously, like
a wild animal, as our glance turned towards her. Banunu
houses are built in rows of four or six houses, in form
the same, but larger than Babangi houses, a small yard
between each two, but the whole row or set under one
roof. A few of the houses are ornamented with human
skulls, one having as many as thirteen. Circling round
the bases of large trees here and there were many
hippopotami skulls ; we counted as many as thirty,
showing that these people hunt (probably harpoon) the
hippopotamus.

‘ Of course, in walking through these towns, we tried
to make friends with the people as much as possible.
We know scarcely any of their language, and can do
very little more with them than make friends on these
first short prospecting visits. But we have said a great
deal about Bolobo-Moie district, because here we are
desirous of having one of our stations ; in fact, have
provisionally decided so to do, the population being
dense, and the people appearing as friendly as anywhere
— save Nga-Nkabi’s on the Bochini River.

* At Bolobo we got further observations for latitude,
and place it in 2° 13' o" S.

‘ From Bolobo we steamed on past some very pretty
hill scenery, passing Moie, Nkunju and Sakamimbe,
charmingly situated on spurs of rocky tree-clad hills,
and prettily embowered in trees. These people seem
to have picked all the best sites. On this stage (as
between Kwamouth and Bolobo) we had a passenger,
Lieutenant Liebrecht, accompanying us to Lukolela.
For the whole of the distance, one hundred miles, we
saw absolutely nothing of the opposite bank of the great

BAKUBA AXE (of wrought Iron, from
the Kasai- Sankuru).
EXECUTIONER’S CHOPPERS
(Bangala Country).

WAR SPEARS FROM THE
UPPER CONGO.

Lukolela

195

river we were ascending ; but, keeping somewhat near
the eastern shore, and a general N.E. direction, we
passed among the islands in channels of from 150 to
1500 yards wide, in generally shallow water. As, on
the third day, we approached Lukolela, we found the
current much stronger ; and at last, the first time for 120
miles, we saw the opposite shore. Just above Lukolela
the river narrows from its hitherto unknown width to a
mile and a half.

‘ Lukolela, you will remember, was fixed upon as a
site for our sixth station (Liverpool). The villages of
Lukolela are smaller and somewhat more scattered than
those of Moie, Bolobo, and other Babangi towns below,
although Lukolela people too belong to the same enter-
prising tribe. They differ very much, however, from
their more wealthy fellow-tribesmen at Bolobo and
Chumbiri, and are much milder and more pleasant in
disposition.

‘ The chiefs are three in number, two of whom have
the name of Yuka, and the other — apparently the
principal — Mangaba. As was the case in the other
stations of the Association, the gentleman in charge of
Lukolela station, Mr. Glave,1 accompanied us in our
first walk through the town. At Lukolela we stayed
two days, fixing our site, “ wooding up ” for the steamer,
and making good friends with the people. They seemed
all very glad to hear that we were coming to live amongst
them, and to teach them, and the chief, Mangaba, with
whom we made special friendship, promised to go on
with us to Bangala, to introduce us to the chiefs there.
All is promising for our work there.

‘Leaving Lukolela on July 23, we slept just below
Ngombe, which we reached early the following morning.

1 See references to Mr. Glave in Sir H. Johnston’s book on Grenfell.

1 96 First Voyage of the ‘Peace’

Here the river narrows again, having expanded, as usual,
between the two places. Opposite Ngombe, a little
above, is the Mubangi River, evidently a considerable
body of water of a light clay, whitey-brown-paper colour,
contrasting strongly, and for many miles refusing to mix
with the dark-brown water of the main river. The two
bodies of water flow side by side, always with a great
deal of commotion and splashing waves at their edges
of contact, as if jostling with each other on their way
down. The same is very noticeable, too, at the Lulongo
River much higher up, the water of which, flowing
alongside that of the big river, is inky black.

4 About twelve miles further on, and we came to a
splendid set of towns, viz. Bathunu, Boshende, and
Irebu. In this set of towns, especially the last two,
which are separated from each other by a stretch of
country of about a mile in length, we have probably the
densest population yet seen by us on the Congo, not
excluding Bangala towns. The people literally swarmed,
the crowd coming to the beach numbering about 500
people. Here, as at Ngombe, and in fact almost all
further towns on as far as Liboko, there are isolated
stretches of rocky banks where the overlying soil seems
particularly fertile, and where the people have built.

‘ We anchored off, and went ashore at Boshende,
walked to the chiefs house, he in turn paying us a
return visit on board, and bringing a present of a goat,
etc. At Irebu we slept, going on shore to make friends
with the people. The principal chiefs are Ipaka,
Mbeka, Makwala, and Mangombo, and we made special
friends with Ipaka, an old man. We walked about
the towns, and found each chief sitting on his stool
outside his house, ready to give us a welcoming shake
of the hands. Talking to the people of Irebu and

Bold and Troublesome 197

Boshende was very difficult, whether on shore or when
they came to see us on board the “ Peace.” There was
always a deafening din of voices. Mayango, chief of
Boshende, and Ipaka of Irebu, as well as almost every
friendly-disposed man of importance, from Chimbiri up
to Iboko, were very desirous to seal friendship by the
ceremony of blood-brotherhood, which, among the Irebu,
Babangi, and Bangala people, is very, very common.

‘The Congo equatorial towns are divided up into
districts as follows : — Bojungi, Mbongo, Inganda, and
Bwangata. The population is very scattered, and many
of the villages, specially in Lower Inganda, consist of only
a few tumble-down, lopsided houses. In the Bwangata
section, however, the villages were better. At the
Mbongo below, the people seemed very rudely bold and
troublesome, and it seemed almost as if they wanted to
fight us because we would not stop and go ashore at
their rocky beaches. These people about the great Ruki
River (hitherto known as the Ikelemba) are the most
primitive of the people we have hitherto met. They
are the only people we met who use the bow and arrow.
Here, too, we first saw an African shield, and found
most men walking about with bow and arrows and
shield, or spears and shield, or else a murderous knife,
of which more presently.

‘ They also, for the most part, wore hats of monkeys’
skins ; the head of the animal coming to the front of
their heads, and the tail hanging down behind. In spite,
however, of their coiffure and arms, they did not appear
wild or savage.

‘ That they are cruel, curiously and ingeniously cruel,
we know from the methods of execution obtaining
amongst them. Certain victims die by the knife alluded
to above, and others have to afford to the bloodthirsty

198 First Voyage of the ‘Peace’

spectators the pleasures of the chase. These last are
given a certain start across country, and then are
pursued in full cry by all the people armed with spears
and bows and arrows. An obstinate victim who will not
run well causes disappointment, but others are said to
make a “ fine run ” before they fall, pierced with arrows
and spears.

* The death by the knife is given thus. The victim is
tied down to stakes driven into the ground in a squatting
position, his arms behind him, and his head bent well
forward. Round the chin and coming to a loop at the
top of the head is a strong plaited rope. Four feet or so
in front is a strong young sapling, which with great
force is bent down until its top reaches the loop at the
head of the victim, to which it is made fast. The
sacrificial knife (a strange sickle-shaped affair, the
hollow fitting the curve of the neck) is brought, and,
after a little playing about with the miserable doomed
man, a smart deft stroke is given which never fails to sever
the head, which springs high in the air by the relieved
tension of the sapling. Indeed, interior Congo is one
of the w dark places of the earth, full of the habitations
of cruelty.” We have been told that among the
Babangi, on the death of a chief, scores of victims are
sacrificed.

‘ Equatorville appears to be the prettiest and best
built and best kept of any of the upper International
Association stations, and really reflects great credit on
the chief of station, M. Vangele, who was most kind to
us. We spent a pleasant quiet Sunday here, and on the
Monday morning, July 28, continued our journey up the
river. Our midday observations (we got a water horizon
here, as in many other places) gave us 4' 20 " N. of the
Equator.

Superstitious Mangaba 1 99

‘ The Ruki River we found to be just the magni-
ficent affluent Stanley has described it, quite 1000
yards wide, and with several islands at its embouchure .
Up above the Ruki River we found Rangala towns,
stretching right away to i° 50' o" N. (our farthest point)
to Liboko, where Stanley had his great battle in 1877.
We went, however, forty-five miles above Equatorville
before we arrived at Lulanga, the first Bangala town
on the eastern bank. Meanwhile, nothing was to be
seen of the opposite bank of the great river we were
ascending, and there was the same monotonous and
uninteresting series of islands of all lengths, covered
with forest, and swarming with gadflies by day and
mosquitoes by night. “How I love their bosky
depths ! ” writes Mr. Stanley, in describing them. It
is more than we do. What great lumps the flies raised
on suffering leg and ankle as one traced one’s chart,
or studied the native languages in the comfortable
cabin of the “ Peace ” ! But, as Mr. Stanley explains,
his love for the interminable islands of the Congo arose
from the protection they afforded him from his blood-
thirsty cannibal pursuers.

‘At Lulanga we had our first real introduction to
Bangala people, and we found them out and out the
most boisterous, wild, noisy, troublesome, worrying lot
of people either of us has ever met. We were introduced
by our friend Mangaba, of Lukolela, who all the journey
had made himself very interesting to us, although we
have said nothing about him. Like all Babangi people,
Mangaba was very superstitious, and carried his fetishes
with him on board. His toilet was never complete
without the application of his face-powder and rouge —
not used, however, to improve the complexion, but to
make mysterious red and white (chalk) marks about his

200 First Voyage of the ‘ Peace’

body, in which his boy assisted him. A white line up
his back, from hip to left shoulder, to the left of the
median line, and carried down thence along the outer
part of the arm to the hand. Red and white lines on
the left foot, ditto across forehead, but all drawn with
the most religious care.

‘ Old Mangaba was very active in his communicating
with the people, shouting at every canoe we met, and
that long after they had ceased to hear what he said.
He seemed to claim kinship with every one, found that
he had a wife at every town we stayed at, met at least
three mothers, and introduced nearly every chief of
importance as his own father, until his family-tree
was, to say the least, perplexing. From Mangaba
and his little boy, Mbuma (who, by-the-by, he has
allowed us to bring down to Arthington), we tried as
much as possible to learn the Babangi dialect spoken
at Lukolela.

‘ To converse with these people was very difficult,
but we sometimes tried it when, in the evening, we had
prayer, and gathered round us our boys to sing our
Congo hymn. “ God hears us when we speak to Him,”
we said to Mangaba. “ Indeed ! ” said he, not much
surprised. “ Yes, He is our Father, and He is very
very good, and loves us all very much,” said we. But
to this Mangaba objected. “ God was not good. Why
was He always killing people ? ” (by death). And then
we had to try and explain the resurrection and the
home in heaven ; but it was difficult to remove his
sceptical objections.

‘ Lulanga is very populous, perhaps as much so as
Ilebu proper. Altogether, going and returning, we spent
two full days at this place. We, of course, walked
about in the town accompanied by large crowds of

Excitement at Lulang’a 201

people. A wild lot they evidently were, especially one
old chief, Ikafaka by name.

‘ They swarmed out to the steamer in good canoes,
and crowded on deck, almost taking possession. The
difficulty was to get the noisy rowdy lot back in their
canoes, and not even our steaming ahead a little, or
blowing our whistles, would induce them to leave us. A
dozen canoes would hang on to the sides of the steamer,
even when we were fully under way. There was no
fear.

* Once we half feared, from their wild noise and the
beating of a sort of signal gong, that they might attack
us and seize the steamer. Any little indiscretion on
the part of any of our people might have led to grave
results, as most of our unruly guests were armed with
spears and knives. We had to exercise the greatest
tact, keep a most constant genial good-tempered
manner, faces wreathed with perpetual smiles, until even
the facial effort was quite a strain ; and we felt intensely
relieved when we were under way again — the last
canoe left behind. One of us immediately went down
with a slight fever after the excitement at Lulanga.

‘ We found here, just above Lulanga, a considerable
river. It is called the Lulongo River, and is about seven
hundred yards wide ; the water being inky black.
There is a town up this river of the same name.

‘ From here to Liboko, the last of the Bangala
towns, is eighty miles, and we were surprised to find it
nearly two degrees north of the equator.

‘ Mangaba informed us that Bangala was divided
into five districts : Lulanga and Bolombo on the left,
and Mungundu, Bukolela, and Loboko on the right bank.

* About twelve miles above Lulongo River we
crossed over to the other side of the Congo, thus obtaining

202 First Voyage of the ‘Peace’

an idea of its width at this place, although we crossed
very obliquely. We passed three Bukolela towns —
Lobengo, Munsembe, and Bombimba, each one built on
one of the few raised plots here and there obtaining on
the banks. These banks were of clay, and from four to
six feet above the water. Along the beach were broad
double ladders, a sort of landing steps reaching down
into the river. The people here seemed quieter and
milder, and quite ready to welcome us.

‘At last, on August i, we reached Liboko, and after
steaming along seven miles of towns, more or less close
to each other, we came to that of the great chief Mata
Mayiki (i.e. plenty of guns), where the International
Association has built a fine house.

‘ The chief of station is Lieutenant Coquilhat, who
seems to manage the people very well, considering their
wildness. One fancied that a certain maniacal irre-
sponsible sort of wildness showed itself in their eyes.
Here it was that Stanley had his great battle in 1877,
when sixty-three canoes came out to attack him, and for
five hours he had to sustain the fight. The brave young
chief mentioned by Stanley was Mata Mayiki’s son, who
afterwards died from his wounds. The old chief, a
fine-looking, tall fellow, with failing sight, fancied one of
us was with Stanley on that occasion (Frank Pocock).
The people crowded on the beach, most of them armed,
with the idea (so M. Coquilhat afterwards informed us)
that we were enemies, and prepared to fight us. In the
first place, our flag was strange to them, and they have
got to understand that flags are very significant ;
secondly, we did not steam right close into the beach, as
Stanley’s steamers had always done, being smaller, but
anchored, as usual, fifty yards from the shore ; thirdly,
we had two Bangala men on board from a capsized

Personal Decorations 203

canoe, and they fancied these their two countrymen
were prisoners.

* All was explained, however ; we came in closer,
just to oblige them, and made fair friendship with
them. We stayed a day here, and walked into the
town, which was better arranged than any Bangala
town we had yet seen. Although the towns-folk were
said to be great traders, we saw no signs of wealth at
Liboko, scarcely a gun, no brass ornaments, and very little
cloth, all the women wearing a thick fringe, dyed various
colours, round their loins, which was very becoming,
and the men, many of them, wearing bark cloths.

Their tattooing is not so extensive as the Babanji's,
being transverse raised lumps down the centre of
the forehead to between the eyes, rosettes from the
eyes back to the ears, and also down the middle of the
breast-bone. Other people, however, living at Bangala,
and hailing from an interior country called Ngombe,
are hideously tattooed with great raised lumps down
the cheek-bones. The Bangala, like the Babangi,
universally pull out their eyelashes. Their language is
probably much the same as that of the Babangi,
although many words are different. But our time was
so short that we could not only go no further, but could
not make a prolonged stay in any place.

‘ The journey was a prospecting one, and has resulted
in our being able to choose very important and valuable
sites for stations.

1 The “ Peace,” too, has had a splendid trial, and the
little we have said about it shows how little trouble it
gave in its management and working.

‘ At Liboko we were half-way to Stanley Falls. On
setting out from Arthington we had given ourselves five
weeks, and, had this time been sufficient, there was nothing

204 First Voyage of the ‘Peace’

to prevent us going the whole distance of a thousand
miles. There was nothing to obstruct ; the road was
open and most inviting ; the " Peace ” working well ;
the people above Bangala reported us “ all good,” and
warmly welcomed us : the only thing making any
lengthening of our journey impossible was the fact that
we had left only Mrs. Grenfell at Arthington, and one of
us was overdue to go down to the coast and home to
England. Our gang of Loangos, too, were due to go
home. So we had, albeit most reluctantly, to start
back.

‘ Such, dear Mr. Baynes, is the first journey of the
“ Peace ” into countries new and among peoples strange.
It was our constant regret that we could not make it
more of a missionary journey — that is, in teaching and
preaching, but that was impossible, chiefly because we
knew so little of the language. We have, however,
done a little more preliminary work, which is none the
less our “ Father’s business.” Oh, for the time when,
settled among these people, there shall be servants of
God, teachers of His Word, to show these heathen the
Christian life, and to try to draw them home to God !
Oh, will kind friends in England respond? We can
but appeal, and plead, and cry. We can only pray,
“The Lord hasten it in His time.” But what can we
do, so few in number ? Our new brethren, Darling and
Cruickshank, have joined us ; but we still need at least
three more brethren to fill our stations thus far, before
any one can accompany Bentley in his approaching
forward work.

‘ This will be a troublesomely long letter, we fear,
but not, we hope, without interest. We must conclude
it now, however, and hope its news will encourage our
friends, and, above all, incline the hearts of some young

A Glorious Work

205

men to seek for part and lot in a work which, though
not without its dangers and arduousness, is a glorious
one, which we would exchange for no other— that of
taking, for the first time , the light of life into those
regions of darkness, cruelty, and death.’

CHAPTER X

FROM AUTUMN, 1884, TO
AUTUMN, 1887

Grenfell’s Literary Style— Bentley’s Testimony to Grenfell’s Work-
Astronomical Work— Loss by Bad Packing— First Printing
done at Stanley Pool— The Mubangi— A Poor Christmas Dinner
— Attacked by Natives— Meeting with Tippoo Tib— The Lubilast
—In Deaths oft— Illness of Mr. Whitley— The Boy Zwarky—
Arab Slave Raids — Child Interpreters — The Lulongo-Maringa—
Cannibals— Hippopotami Hunting— Sir F. de Winton’s Protests
—His Tribute to Grenfell— Retrogressive Policy of the State—
The Boy Kamisi.

O those who have knowledge of Grenfell’s life, and

1 the history of the Baptist Congo Mission, the title
of this chapter will occasion surprise. The period
indicated included his greatest exploration work, and
the records before me, written by his own hand, would
fill a volume. It would be hopeless to attempt adequate
treatment of this mass of material within the compass
of a score or two of pages. Happily, the attempt is not
necessary. Sir Harry Johnston has described and
appraised Grenfell’s achievements of these days with
literary skill and scientific authority, and the reader who
desires full knowledge of the geographical spoils of
Grenfell’s famous voyages must be referred to Sir
Harry’s ampler account.

It is my purpose to give such insight into the
character, capacity, and ideals of the man, during these

207

Grenfell’s Style

laborious years, as may be gathered from passages
selected from his letters; and I shall endeavour, by
connective interpolations, to preserve in some degree
the continuity of the story. All the time there will
be lurking in my own mind an intense regret that
Grenfell never found opportunity to tell his own tale
to the world in book form. When his biographers
have done their best, they realize how much better he
might have done. He had no conceit of his literary
gifts ; yet he wrote, when he was in form, with a
crispness, a vividness, an individuality of style which
have already appealed to the judicious reader of this
book. It reflects credit upon the discrimination and
prescience of Messrs. Hodder & Stoughton that they
wrote to Grenfell in the spring of 1886, saying that,
having seen his letters in the Missionary Herald, they
were of opinion that a volume from his pen would be
exceedingly welcome to a large class of readers, and
for the copyright of which they would be prepared to
make him a liberal offer. Deprecating the want of
interest displayed by the Church in Missionary litera-
ture, they conclude : ‘ The work of a pioneer like your-
self would have geographical interest, and your style is
such as would fit you to write a very acceptable work.’

The following passage from a letter to Mr. Baynes,
dated July 26, 1886, is at once an indication of the
writer’s modesty and his absorption in the Mission : —

* I enclose a copy of a letter I have recently received
from Messrs. Hodder & Stoughton. It was a great
surprise to me, especially the reference to my “style.”
I feel sure there is no lack of interesting matter in the
history of our Mission to make a book : the question
is, will the cause we have at heart be served by any
book-making I might possibly accomplish ? If others

208 Autumn, 1884, to Autumn, 1887

think so, I would make the effort, though it would be
a great labour, and one that I should undertake with
much diffidence. I have often regretted that some of
the intensely interesting correspondence of the early
San Salvador days was not to be found in print. It was
not quite suitable for the Herald \ perhaps, but if carefully
edited would be just splendid for a book. (I can say
this much without boasting, for, though I’ve been to
San Salvador, I was not stationed there.) If I had had
more time when I was in England last, I should certainly
have tried to do something with it ; but only, of course,
if it could possibly have been of advantage to our
work/

What may be called a bird’s-eye view of Grenfell’s
journeyings in 1884-5 13 given by Holman Bentley in
an important letter, which was incorporated in the
Baptist Missionary Society’s report, read by Mr. Baynes
at the annual meeting of the Society in 1886. The
mutual appreciation of these two, differently gifted but
equally devoted, men is pleasant to observe.

Bentley writes : ‘ Hitherto we have only occupied

Stanley Pool. In preparing our plans for the Upper
River, our first duty was to inform ourselves as to the
positions affording the greatest strategic advantages, the
distribution and character of the populations, the physical
features of the country, and the extent, navigability, and
course of the great affluents of the river. To have made
our plans without this knowledge would have been the
wildest, wickedest folly. Mr. Grenfell applied himself
to the task of investigating with that admirable energy,
skill, and thoroughness which have been so highly appre-
ciated, not only by the friends of our Mission, but also
by those who from other standpoints regard our work
with a keen interest.

THE REV. T. J. COMBER.
Photo : Debenham & Gould.

THE REV. W. HOLMAN BENTLEY, D.D.
Photo : Frank Holmes.

THE REV. THOMAS LEWIS
Photo : Wickens, Bangor.

209

Exciting Risks

‘ The Kwa River had already been visited by Messrs.
Grenfell and Comber ; and at the close of the previous
year we received an account of Mr. Grenfell’s journey
over the 1080 miles of waterway on the main river, as
far as Stanley Falls. The seven cataracts which consti-
tute these Falls are passable by canoes, and thence the
river is navigable almost as far as to Nyangwe. Mr.
Grenfell also examined the Mbura and Aruwimi rivers,
and others of less importance, ascending the Ukere
(Loila) for 100 miles, and the Lomami for a distance of
100 miles; also the great waterway of the Mubangi
for more than 400 miles, thus discovering the true
highway to the Southern Soudan. It was a journey of
4000 miles, of which one-third was in waters previously
altogether unknown.

‘ There were yet some important rivers which needed
examination, and in August Mr. Grenfell ascended the
Lulongo-Maringa for a distance of 400 miles ; also the
Black River and its affluent, the Juapa, for another 400
miles. These investigations having been completed, we
have the necessary material for the formation of our
plans.

‘ It has pained us much to learn that our purpose in
these investigations has, in some quarters, been mis-
understood. It may be exciting, but it is certainly far
from pleasant to be a target for poisoned arrows, or to
run the frequent risk of being speared, and perhaps
eaten by wild cannibals. The accounts may be thrill-
ing, but whatever aspects such work may present to
those who think the matter over beside their comfortable
fireside at home, certainly those of us who have been
obliged to do pioneering work, almost ad nauseam ,
would infinitely prefer quiet Mission work on our
stations to the privations and exposure which must

210 Autumn, 1884, to Autumn, 1887

inevitably attend all such journeys into the unknown
interior.

‘Mr. Grenfell has repressed these feelings, and has
performed the duties which fell to him in so masterly a
manner, and records his information in so interesting
a style, that some of our friends who read the account
regard it as a charming excursion only. Shall we blame
Mr. Grenfell for not grumbling at weariness, privation,
dangers, and inconvenience ; or because he abstains
from making stock of the risk to wife and child, whose
presence seems to have done more than anything else to
make the journey a success ? Shall we not rather admire
the dauntless courage and self-abnegation which enabled
him to perform his task with good grace ? *

In Pioneering on the Congo Bentley gives a charming
picture of the missionary-explorer at work on the ‘ Peace.1
‘ Hour after hour on those long journeys Grenfell stood
behind his prismatic compass, taking the bearings of
point after point as they appeared ; estimating from time
to time the speed of the steamer, and correcting all the
work as occasion offered by astronomical observations.
When the steamer was running, his food had to be
brought to him, unless in some straighter run towards a
distant point he could slip away for a few minutes/

And now to the letters.

On August 21, 1884, Grenfell writes from Stanley
Pool to his sister-in-law and friend and valued corre-
spondent, Miss Hawkes, of Birmingham —

‘ I am enclosing you the list of things I wish you
would buy for us. Walter will give you £y, which I am
asking Scholefields to pay to him. You must have the
goods packed in a tin-lined case, or else buy a tin trunk,
and put them inside, covering the trunk again with a
wooden case. Some of our things have come up in a

‘ Eight Little Imps’

21 I

dreadful state, in consequence of the rain having soaked
through and through in the three weeks’ journey over-
land. Especially in one case, where Mother packed
jam and pudding together, and Mr. Bennett put in some
shoes. When the consignment reached us one could
scarcely tell which was pudding and jam, and which was
shoes. The pudding and jam had fermented, and mixed
up round everything. Such a mess you never saw !
I’ve some more things on the road about which I’m in a
stew : a package which contains photos from Stratford
Road. I half expect to receive a lot of pulp.

‘ I am hoping to get away next month for a long trip
up river. If all goes well, I shall not be back till
January or February. I want to be able to write some-
thing home about the Aruwimi and Welle Rivers, on
which Mr. Arthington lays such stress. I take Mamma
and baby with me, and some of our household young-
sters. Comber and I took eight little imps ; didn’t they
give us a doing ? And yet here I find myself preparing
to take another batch. Comber would like to go with
me, but he is very far from well, and must get away to
England without delay. I hear by a round-about way
that an engineer is on the way out. I hope he will be
on the spot before I start. It will relieve me of a lot of
worry, though the lack of an engineer won’t stop my
going.

‘ I enclose you a copy of the first printing done at
the Pool — the first column is Kishi Congo, the third
Kiyanse ; that’s the language spoken up river for the
greater part of the distance I’ve traversed. I simply
intended to get out a few lesson sheets for our boys,
but now Dr. Sims and I are trying to get up a small
vocabulary between us.

‘ I am also commencing a new house, that is, I am

2 1 2 Autumn, 1884, to Autumn, 1887

preparing for it — sawing timber, dubbing posts, etc., etc.
Our present place has an earth floor, dreadfully dusty in
the dry season, and miserably cold and damp in the wet.
It is just between the two seasons now, and very cold
night and morning. Only fancy, I often sleep under
three blankets! . . .

‘Cruickshank arrived here three days ago. He
stays here while I go up river. I like him very much.’

To Miss Hawkes.

Stanley Pool, Oct. 4.

‘ I hoped to have been away up country before this,
but Africa’s a dreadful place for delays. Ten days ago
Mr. Comber and Peggy started homeward-bound. Four
days ago I received news that Minns, the new engineer,
was dead at Ngombe ! Yesterday came news by one of
the Livingstone Inland Mission men that one of our
Cameroons people whom we left at Lukolela was dead !
All these things have to be written about, accounts made
up and settled — duties which take a lot of time as well
as oppress one by their own sheer weight. That Minns,
the fourth man sent out for the “Peace,” should have
succumbed like his predecessors before reaching his
destination is indeed strange.

‘ I don’t know what to think. I am stricken dumb
by the unparalleled series of disasters in getting the men
up ; and yet I cannot but acknowledge God’s rich
blessing on the work I’ve had in hand. This much I
know — I won’t ask for another man to be sent out. I
sometimes blame myself that I ever spoke about it. If
I had thought one life was to have been sacrificed that
I might have help, I would never have done so. Yet
now there are four gone ! I must make the best of the
resources we have, and drill our country boys into

Caught like Fish 213

engineers and stokers and sailors. I seemed to wish to
devote myself more exclusively to Mission work direct ;
the Lord seems to say, “ Make use of the people you have ;
make them help themselves, by doing the work of the
steamer.” You will see by the enclosed bit of printing
that I am trying to drill the mystery of bookmaking
into their heads. One of my boys, Joaque, does all the
type-setting.

‘We are sending a little Aruwimi girl home with
Peg. She comes from right away up the Congo, some
800 miles beyond this, and is a ransomed slave. As
she and her two little compatriots were sitting round
our fire the other evening, we heard them singing
dolefully about being “ caught like fish in the water by
the Betamba tamba ” (Arabs). The dismal tone and
melancholy marking time by swaying their bodies and
clapping their hands were very sad.’

Later in October Grenfell set out upon perhaps the
greatest of his voyages, notable, in chief, for the
exploration of the Mubangi, which he ascended for
some 400 miles of its course, encountering gravest
perils, through which he was safely brought by the good
hand of God which was upon him. On December 25
he writes to Miss Hawkes from Stanley Falls, describing
the strangest Christmas Day he had ever spent, and the
poorest Christmas dinner he had ever eaten, a ‘ calamity ’
which he is sure will command the commiseration of his
friends. ‘ Fried fish, cassada roots, and a one pound tin
of preserved plum pudding between four of us/ with
only the modicum of plum pudding to break the
monotony of a long previous course of fried fish, is
certainly a touching bill of fare. But he is as well and
happy as he ever was, only regretting that he cannot

2 14 Autumn, 1884, to Autumn, 1887

drop into the midst of his friends at home for the day,
and be back the next morning.

This letter, begun on Christmas Day at Stanley Falls,
was finished on March 30, at Stanley Pool. On the latter
date he writes —

'You will see from the other side that I thought
about you on Christmas Day, but did not finish my letter,
as I intended to do ; and here I am, three weeks after
my return, just sending off a mere scrap, to let you know
I am still in the land of the living. Thank God we are
safely back ! It might have been otherwise, for we have
encountered perils not a few. But the winds, which
sometimes were simply terrific, and the rocks, which
knocked three holes in the steamer as we were running
away at night from cannibals, have not wrecked us.
We have been attacked by natives about twenty different
times, we have been stoned and shot at with arrows, and
have been the marks for spears more than we can count.
Our only casualty was one of our boys slightly wounded
with a poisoned arrow. We burned the wound with
caustic at once, and no ill results followed. Our great
difficulty was in the new countries, where the natives
had never seen a white man, and where they all seemed
to be at war with one another ; for every village was
fortified. People got up the trees to shoot at us, and
seeing we did nothing, came down and followed us in
their canoes. Other people on ahead, thinking we ran
away, came out to meet us.

‘It was too much to think of pegging away any
longer against such opposition, and as we were four
months out from the Pool, I determined to give it up
and go back. It was night, or nearly so, and we could
not think of anchoring there, so I determined to risk
coming down in the dark, and but for very special mercy

Twenty Burnt Villages 215

we should have been lost on the rock I spoke of before,
for the water came into one of the compartments faster
than we could bale it out. There are a thousand things
to tell, but you will be glad to get a short note rather
than wait till next mail for a longer one.

* Your kind letters are here, and have been duly read
and enjoyed. I’m only sorry I cannot better repay you
with news in return. So you’ve seen poor Peg. I wish
I could have a look at her.’

To Mr. Joseph Hawkes.

March 30.

‘We spent Christmas at Stanley Falls ; New Year’s
day we were up the Lubilast. We saw the famous
Tippoo Tib at Stanley Falls. He had 300 men
with him, and had sent 700 down river trading (rather
“raiding,” for we counted twenty burnt villages and
thousands of fugitive canoes). He says he has 2000
more men coming, and talks of making his way down
to the Atlantic — says that the Sultan of Zanzibar
claims all the Congo, right down to the sea ! ! Tippoo
Tib is without doubt the master, at the present moment,
of the Upper River Congo. I think the Expedition
will stop his slave raiding as soon as they get their
big steamer afloat ; but in the meantime horrors un-
tenable. I cannot write about it now ; I only refer
to it that you may have an idea of the course of
events.

‘ During the five months’ journey I was enabled to
make, we traversed some 600 miles of waterway never
previously visited by a European. The Lubilast we
ascended as far as i° 33' south. It was still open, but
the current was very strong, four to five miles per hour,
and even more sometimes, and terribly tortuous. The

216 Autumn, 1884, to Autumn, 1887

people are wild and treacherous ; for, several times, after
a period of apparently amicable intercourse and satis-
factory dealing, without any other cause than their own
sheer “ cussedness,” as the Yankees would say, they let
fly their poisoned arrows at us. The Ukere River we
navigated as far as 2° 50' north, when we were stopped
by a fall. The Mbura divides into two branches, the
smaller is blocked by a sheer fall of 50 ft., the north-east
one is barred by a rapid, which, with suitable tackle, we
shall be able to pass on another occasion. The most
important geographical result was my being able to
ascend the Mubangi River as far as 40 30' north, and
leaving it there, a magnificent waterway half a mile
wide, stretching away nobody knows how far. My idea
is, that it is the Welle of Schweinfurth. Have sent
details to Royal Geographical Society. On ordinary
maps the sources of the Binue occupy the place I
reached on this stream, which flow in the opposite
direction. The Mubangi joins the Congo 26 miles
south of the Equator, the course for 350 miles being a
mean south by west. It is one of the largest, if not the
largest affluent falling into the main stream.

1 1 returned on March 9, exactly a year after my
return from my first journey, when I met such a lot of
bad tidings. March 9 is to be a memorable day for me,
for I met this time news of Mr. Craven’s (L.I.M.) death,
Dr. Comber had died on Christmas Eve, Macmillan
died on the day of my arrival, and Cruickshank two
days previously. This is not a letter, only a note.
It leaves important topics untouched, because of the
impossibility of dealing with them ; but I have no
doubt you will see further details in the Herald. Eyes,
head and heart are aching. May the good Lord help
the Congo Mission ! We are down very low. Only six

To the Pool in a Hammock 217

of us out here. As usual, I’m alone. Thanks for the
kind letters I find awaiting me.’

To Mrs. Hartland.

Stanley Pool, May 2.

‘ As I told you in the scrap which accompanies this,
I was busy after my arrival in getting the steamer out
of the water, being anxious to have her “ docked ” and
ready for launching again before the water fell too low.
A few days after my return a note came up from
Mr. Darling : “ I’m very ill, and need help ” ; and it
was decided that Whitley should go down to Wathen,
especially as we received news through the Expedition
that made us fear more than Darling’s note. I had
struggled on, and had the steamer half-way in the water
on the 8th ultimo, when a message came from Wathen,
stating that Whitley was in a critical state, and begging
me to go down. So, finishing the launch, I started off
on the following day, and happily found Whitley much
better, though still in fever. The fever remained
obstinate, and never entirely left him during the four
days I stayed at Wathen ; but as it was only ioi° and
1020 during the latter part of the time, I determined to
carry him up to the Pool in a hammock, and start him
off up river in the “ Henry Reed,” in the hope of its bene-
ficial effect. The journey seemed to work wonders, the
fever was shaken off, and Whitley was quite like himself
again by the time of our arrival. He was just in time
to catch the “ Henry Reed,” and now must be well on
his way to the Equator ; we are expecting him back
on the 20th. These sicknesses at Wathen make us
very nervous, and I can only hope God will deal more
gently with us, and spare us further loss at that terribly
costly place. Mr. Darling is building a new house

2 1 8 Autumn, 1884, to Autumn, 1887

farther up the hill, and I trust it will prove a better
site. . . .

* Bentley tells me that a missionary engineer is now
on his way for 'the " Peace ” : this is good news for me.
It is of the utmost importance that all the ability to
work the steamer should not be centred in one poor
body, the possibilities to that “ one poor body ” being
so many and so grave.’

In a letter to his college friend, the Rev. R. H. Powell,
of Edenbridge, dated Stanley Pool, July I, Grenfell
speaks of encouraging increase in the school work at
Arthington, and gives a charming account of a certain
boy, Zwarky, in whom Mr. Powell and his friends at
Edenbridge have special interest. Grenfell has taught
Zwarky to perform many important tasks on the steamer
and in the printing office, and after some further pro-
bation, purposes to satisfy his yearning for an English
name. He is a slave. His master wants him back.
But Grenfell hopes to secure his freedom.

Remarking upon recent heavy losses, he continues :
i It seems strange that God should have blessed us so
very markedly for awhile, and then have allowed sorrows
like a flood to overtake us, yet “our trust, our trust is
in Him.” ’ But for the shorthandedness consequent
upon these losses he could by this time have been up
river again. None the less he is hopeful. ‘ Leopoldville
is a very healthy place, and is fast attracting new-comers.
Trading companies are establishing new stations.
Stanley’s new steamer is nearly all here. It has been
fifteen months coming up to the Pool from the sea-coast.
By its mere presence it will do much toward driving the
slave-raiding Arabs off the river. If they are allowed un-
molested to pursue their course, a few years will devastate
both banks. They cause untold misery wherever they go.

A Rejected Bargain 219

The third voyage of the ‘ Peace ’ was commenced on
August 2, 1885. Grenfell took with him upon this
occasion his wife and child, a German explorer named
von Frangois, and eight of the Mission school-children.
These children were not taken only for their own sakes.
Being slaves or the children of slaves, they had come
from distant places, retained some knowledge of their
original language, and were sometimes able to act as
interpreters. ‘It was decided on this third voyage to
explore some of the mighty affluents entering the Congo
in the Equatorial region from the east or south.’ 1

The Lulongo-Maringa was ascended some four
hundred miles, and afterwards the Black River (Buruki)
with its confluents Busira and Juapa, which, some sixty
miles up from the Congo, unite to form the main stream.
The reception awaiting Grenfell at various towns was
sometimes friendly and sometimes hostile. Often con-
ciliatory measures changed enmity into amity ; sometimes
his utmost efforts failed to placate, and secured nothing
better than poisoned arrows. On the Juapa the people
were cannibals. In one place ‘ they offered him a fine-
looking woman as a wife, in return for a plump boatman
whom they wanted to eat.’ 2 Grenfell wrote a vivid
account of this journey for the Missionary Herald* and
Sir Harry Johnston has given an excellent summary of
the story, incorporating valuable scientific notes. I
quote one passage of Grenfell’s letter, for its own sake,
and as a further specimen of his descriptive writing :

‘ Since leaving the Pool, we had only been able to
buy two or three fowls and a few smoked fish, and it
was therefore not surprising that our crew were getting

1 Sir H. H. Johnston’s George Grenfell and the Congo, p. 135.

2 Sir H. H. Johnston, p. 141.

3 Volume for 1886, p. no.

220 Autumn, 1884, to Autumn, 1887

hungry for meat, and that they gladly hailed our approach
to the hippo feeding grounds, where we have never failed
to make a “ bag.” But it was not so easy this time, on
account of the high water, for it was not till after we had
killed three or four that we managed to secure a prize,
and this only because it was killed outright, and unable
to move after the ball struck ; for, after the manner of
hippos, he was standing just on the edge of deep water,
into which he could almost have tumbled and been
beyond our reach, if only life enough had been left to
make a single effort. To make him fast with a rope
through a hole cut between the bone and the principal
tendon of one of his legs, and have him alongside, did
not take many minutes ; and a little later we had towed
our ton or so of flesh (it was only a small one) to a sand-
bank, which was to serve as a bench for cutting him up.
Here, after trying to drag our prize out of the water and
get him into position, we had to give up the attempt,
and to proceed to roll him up the sloping bank like a
big cask.

‘Before we had finished the rolling process, the
natives, whose towns were on the steep hills half a mile
or so away, had begun to collect — they had seen us
coming, and judged that as usual there would be some-
thing to eat of our providing. Some went down to wait
for the floating of those we had failed to secure ; others,
to the number of nearly two hundred, had collected by
the time we had cut off the legs, and were eagerly wait-
ing for the signal which would give them permission to
scramble for the remains. I must say they waited for
this signal with most exemplary patience; but it was
no sooner given than the carcase was surrounded by a
crowd that suggested the swarming of bees. Some of
the little fellows got in between the legs of the big

A Serious Expostulation 221

ones, others got in over the heads and shoulders of
the first comers, while others again, not being able to
get near enough to employ their knives, amused them-
selves by pelting their more successful comrades with
wet sand.

‘ As soon as one retired with as big a piece as he could
cut off, there were half a dozen ready to take his place,
and to engage in a regular “ scrimmage ” to get it. I
was afraid at times they would lose their tempers, and
seeing that every man had a knife, and nearly every
man a spear, I was very glad it all went off so merrily,
and that it ended up with a regular good-natured tug
of war, waist deep in the water, to decide which party
should get the dismantled ribs.*

On his return from the third voyage of the ‘ Peace,’
Grenfell found awaiting him at Stanley Pool, a letter
from Sir Francis de Winton, which caused him no little
disquiet. It seems that on August 8, some two months
earlier, Sir Francis had arrived at Stanley Pool, expecting
to meet Grenfell, who, unaware of the Administrator’s
purposed visit, had started out upon a long journey
some few days previously. So Sir Francis unburdened
his mind in a letter of serious expostulation. He
affirmed that Grenfell occupied a double position upon
the Congo as missionary and explorer. The Missionary
Society enjoyed certain privileges, and in return was
pledged to acknowledge and render obedience to the
laws of the State. The steamer which had been placed
upon the river to maintain communication between
the Mission Stations was being used for exploring
purposes, and thus a new condition of affairs had been
created. As a missionary he was entitled to all help
and consideration. As an explorer he was under
obligation to communicate to the State any discoveries

222 Autumn, 1884, to Autumn, 1887

he might make within its territories, and to the State
should belong all maps executed by him, and all
observations taken.

In the opinion of Sir Francis, exploration should not
be desultory, but systematic, and controlled by the chief
of the State ; exploring parties should be properly
equipped and armed, that the supremacy of the white
man might be maintained ; and all exploring parties
should carry the flag of the State. Of all these laws
Sir Francis understands Grenfell to be a transgressor.
If he is in error in this regard, he invites correction.
Meanwhile he proceeds to support his indictment.
Concerning Grenfell’s discoveries, he has received
but one short letter ; whereas the Royal Geographical
Society of England has received and published important
maps and documents, to which the State, surely, had a
prior claim. In a recent encounter with hostile natives
Grenfell had behaved in a manner likely to damage the
prestige of the white man. Moreover, he always carried
the English flag.

For the rest, Sir Francis requires that upon his return
Grenfell shall forward to him reports of his voyage, with
any maps which he may have prepared. These will
be transmitted to the authorities in Belgium, who will
confer with the Baptist Missionary Society, and if
Grenfell’s explorations are to be continued, new clauses
must be inserted in the contract between the State and
the Society. The conclusion runs thus : “ I beg you to
consider that in this letter I desire to make no personal
allusions to yourself. You have done very useful work,
but the State has certain rights which may possibly
never have occurred to you, but which it is my duty to
maintain.”

This document stung Grenfell severely, and if he

Grenfell’s Reply 223

had met Sir Francis immediately after receiving it, the
ensuing discussion would not have lacked warmth. But
he calmed himself, and wrote a reply, conciliatory,
dignified, and conclusive. I regret that it is too long to
reproduce in full. The opening sentences may, how-
ever, be transcribed : —

1 Upon my return to this place, a few days ago, I
was greatly troubled to find that in your estimation
I occupied such a position as called for your serious
letter of August 8. However, you are good enough,
in the last clause of your communication, to admit the
possibility of the “ rights ” in question never having
occurred to me. In fact, your intimation that in the
British Colonies subjects are not free to go where they
will, and that the State has the “ right ” to possess
itself of the fruits of a civilian’s labours, comes upon
me as a great surprise. I am, however, quite open
to conviction, and I trust that if I have transgressed,
you will attribute it to my entire lack of experience
as to the course followed in newly acquired colonies
or recently formed States, rather than to disloyalty on
my part/

Affirming his friendliness to the State, and his pain
that this should be doubted, Grenfell goes on to express
surprise at the importance which had been attached to
his ‘ meagre sketches and observations.’ He has never
spoken of his work as ‘ Surveys/ or ‘ Explorations ’ :
he does not possess an explorer’s equipment, and he is
not responsible for other people’s talk about himself.
Such as they were, the results of his journeys had been
accessible to any who had interest in them, save to
certain people specified, who were not friends of the
State.

News of his first journey was conveyed to a Belgian

224 Autumn, 1884, to Autumn, 1887

officer, before any letter from himself had reached
England. The said officer asked for information, and
liberty to publish it, and received both. The Belgian
authorities could not have been surprised by the use
of the steamer ‘ Peace/ in traversing previously unvisited
affluents of the Congo, as a clause which would have
barred this was struck out of the first agreement, at
the request of the Baptist Missionary Society; ‘and
full liberty was left us to get as near as we could to
the valley of the Shari, which was widely published
as one of the objects for which our steamer was
given/

As regards the flag ; he will buy one. In the matter
of his behaviour in collision with hostile natives, there
has been gross mistake, which he proceeds to correct.
He will at once commence the preparation of maps and
reports of his most recent ‘ Explorations/ but pressure
of other duties may delay their completion. If they
compare ill with the work of explorers proper, it must
be remembered that, having been both captain and
engineer, his attention to the making of observations
has been less complete than he could have wished.

The brevity of his letter to Sir Francis was due,
first, to pressure of work, and secondly to the hope that
he would shortly be seeing him, with opportunity for
communicating all. He greatly regrets that he was
absent when Sir Francis arrived in August, and would
have delayed departure, had he known of his coming.
The letter concludes : * Trusting I have convinced you,
and hoping yet to more fully prove that I am not
one of those against whom the State needs to be “ pro-
tected ” : with my sincere personal regards for yourself,
I remain, etc.’

When the two men met, a month later, Sir Francis

A Beautiful Tribute

225

admitted that he had been misinformed, withdrew from
the obstructive position which he had assumed, and left
Grenfell free to go on as before, except that hereafter in
his going he carried the State flag as well as the flag
of England.

As Sir Francis de Winton was himself a Christian
gentleman, entirely sympathetic with Grenfell’s ideals,
the correction which he invited, received, and acknow-
ledged generated no bitterness. This is amply proved
by the beautiful tribute which he paid to Grenfell’s
character and work in a paper read before the Royal
Geographical Society, June 1, 1886. Having described,
in brief, the geographical achievements of the Baptist
missionary, he said : ‘ Let us also hope that Mr. Grenfell
may be allowed to finish this all-important work for the
future of Africa ; for, in addition to his high merits as
an explorer, he is an earnest, large-minded, devout
Christian missionary, and has gained for himself the
reputation of being a most painstaking and accurate
observer, loved by all and trusted by all — a true Christian
pioneer.’

From October, 1885, to the end of February, 1886,
Grenfell was at Stanley Pool, elaborating his geo-
graphical records, and attending to the general work
of the Mission. During this period his anxieties
were many and grave. In the interview with Sir
Francis de Winton, referred to above, he was startled
by the Administrator General’s intimation that the
whole question of missionary allotments was under
reconsideration at Brussels.

Grenfell writes that he would not object to a plan
for the prevention of overlapping, if the Roman Catholics
would respect the arrangement. He hopes that the

226 Autumn, 1884, to Autumn, 1887

Committee will not assent to any new allotment scheme,
without consulting the brethren in the field. Another
scare came upon him, when Sir Francis suggested that
the site at Lukolela had better not be occupied.
Heavy anxieties were also occasioned by the retro-
gressive policy of the State upon the upper river. The
State stations at Lukolela and Bolobo had been
abandoned, the Equator station was to be relinquished,
those at Bangala and Kwamouth were held in sus-
pense.

The Falls station was dominated by Tippoo Tib,
whose patronage of the white man had been purchased
at the price of non-interference with his nefarious
business. The river above Bangala was closed to
navigation in October, and concerning this restric-
tion, dictated by the hostility of the natives and the
weakness of the State, Grenfell says : ‘ We are safe
enough, if we may run away. But to this the State
objects.’

To Mr. Baynes.

Stanley Pool, December 7.

‘ The State, on account of the expense involved in
the maintenance of its present site on the hillside, has
under consideration the question of removing to Nshasha,
some four or five miles farther up river. The present
Administrator General advises it ; but that fact in itself
may be a good reason why the future Administrator
General should oppose it. Like the State, we too have
felt the difficulty which obtains in getting a good site in
our present location, and have also cast about for a plot
of level ground. This we have found about three miles
up stream, in the direction of Nshasha, and have secured
a provisional treaty from Sir Francis de Winton for it.

Changing* Location 227

This was all the more easily arranged, as the papers for
our present site have not yet been definitely signed in
Brussels.

‘ During the dry season we excavated some 20,000
cubic feet of the hillside to form a terrace, but as soon
as the rainy season commenced it became quite plain
that it would never do to put houses on it, unless we
were prepared for either continuous heavy expenses for
maintenance, or for the constant risk of an absolute
collapse of our buildings. We shall regret very much
to leave our present coign of vantage, and relinquish
the magnificent views of the Pool and the Falls ; but it
is more important that we should be securely placed,
and that we should be nearer to the beach than we are
at present. There are many difficulties in occupying a
site 200 feet above the water, when we have so much
to do at the water’s edge. Mr. Comber and the
brethren here agree most emphatically as to the
advisability of the step.’

To Miss Hawkes.

Stanley Pool, December 27.

‘ I had the happiness to see Comber back again last
month. He looks capitally well, and is full of spirits.
All the men who came out with him have had a taste of
fever, but are pulling themselves together again. We
are devoutly thankful they have been spared to us, and
trust God will preserve them long.’

On February 24, 1886, Grenfell commenced his fourth
voyage in the ‘ Peace,’ purposing to visit Stanley Falls.
He took with him Baron von Nimptsch, who had
business at the Falls with Tippoo Tib, and Lieutenant
Wissmann, who desired to be conveyed up the Kasai

228 Autumn, 1884, to Autumn, 1887

and the Luala. The Lieutenant’s affairs were of so
great importance to the State, that Grenfell was con-
strained to comply with his request. But he was under
obligation, which could not be broken, to convey four
Lolango men to the Equator, for the American Baptist
Missionary Union, before March 15. So the journey to
the Falls was by no means direct. First he made for
the Equator ; then back to Kwamouth, and up the Kasai
and the Lulua with Lieutenant Wissmann ; then back
again to Kwamouth, and finally up the Congo to the
Falls. The original incentive of this long, adventurous,
and most important voyage was very simple. Grenfell
shall give it in his own words.

‘ The immediate reason for my going to the Falls
just now lies in the fact that when I was up there,
fourteen months ago, Dr. Sims and I got a couple of
boys from Tippoo Tib, and promised to return with
them in a year or so. I am hoping to bring the
boys down with me again ; they will gladly return
if they only have the chance. Hamisi has been
with us, Suliman with Dr. Sims and the American
Baptist Missionary Union ; they are about thirteen
and fifteen respectively, and are both smart, promising
fellows, especially the younger one. We shall all be
very sorry to lose him, and I know his schoolfellows,
with whom he is very popular, will miss him very much.
I’m sorry to say, however, that it is the bold, wild side
of his character, and his faculty for recounting most
graphically the tragic details of slave- raids in which he
has been engaged (he used to carry a spare rifle and
extra cartridges for Tippoo Tib), which in no small
degree account for his popularity with our timid Congo
lads. He has been to Zanzibar, has seen the sea and
the big ships, and his Majesty the Sultan — so is quite a

An Ishmaelite

229

traveller. I should indeed be happy if we could hope
that the grace of God had already touched his heart
and was moulding it into milder mood. At present he
is pretty much of an Ishmaelite, though he knows, and
in his quieter moments acknowledges, the advantages
of our “ better way.” ’

NOTE.

Grenfell’s name will appear on the map of Africa. At the
instance of Sir Harry Johnston geographers have agreed to
christen the series of rapids which interrupt navigation on the
Mubangi, ‘ Grenfell Falls.’ These rapids extend for a distance
of forty-five miles, beginning with the Rapid of Mokwangai
and ending with the final Zongo Fall. See George Grenfell
and the Congo , pp. 132, 348, note 2.

CHAPTER XI

FROM AUTUMN, 1884, TO AUTUMN,
1887 — Continued

A Destructive Fire-Position of Arabs— A Brave Official— Mr.
Arthington’s Inquiries — Dock Difficulties — Arab Success at
Stanley Falls— Lukolela Station founded— A Letter of Thanks
—The Kwango— Homeward Bound— Scarcity— Interview with
the King of the Belgians— Heavy Tidings— Death of Comber—
Grenfell’s Anxiety to return to the Congo— Translation Work
—Programme of Work.

FTER four months’ voyaging Grenfell reached

J~\ Stanley Pool on the evening of June 25 to find
big trouble awaiting him. In his absence, prepara-
tions had been made for the removal of the station
from the site at Leopoldville, granted to the Mission
by Stanley, to a more convenient site, near Kinshasa,
which the State had agreed to give in exchange for the
old location. The new buildings were well forward, but
all the stores were still in the flimsy, dilapidated struc-
tures at Leopoldville, when a grass fire, kindled by some
native boys on June 24, swept down upon the station,
and practically wiped it out.

To Mr. Hawkes.

Stanley Pool, June 29.

‘ It is 1 a.m., and the mail closes at 7, and as I have
to get some sleep before that hour, you will be content
with a very short letter, especially when I tell you
something more of my circumstances.

A Disastrous Fire

231

‘We returned, all well, on the evening of the 25th,
after an absence of four months, to find that our stores
had been entirely gutted by fire the day previously, and
were still smouldering. Nothing but the dwelling-houses
saved. Up-river goods, station stores, steamer stores
and spare gear, and our private stores of food, clothes,
etc., all gone. I do not think the total figure can pos-
sibly be under £3000, and I fear it may be more. Well,
all this has rendered it needful for me to dive into order-
ing a little of everything just to go on with ; and I have
just finished the order sheets, and written an advice note
to Mr. Baynes that he may expect debit notes to the
tune of ^400 or so almost at once.

‘ In the meantime we shall have to pull along as best
we can. Some of us will, in the native idiom, “see
trouble,” but we seem pretty jolly notwithstanding.
There’s a sort of desperate “Mark Tapleyism” abroad,
as we consider the last bar of soap and the last packet
of candles, and the who knows how many months
before our orders are filled. These personal matters are
only things to laugh about ; it is the throwing back of
our work which hurts us all. Our forward plans have
had a most emphatic check, for it will be impossible to
occupy a new post while the base itself is in difficulties.
It seems very strange that just as the men are coming
up country the door should be barred in this way. We
don’t understand it ; but it’s all right nevertheless.

• We had a prosperous journey in the “ Peace,” I am
happy to say. Not the slightest difficulty anywhere.
At the place where they sent out 400 armed men to
attack us last time, we went ashore, and got some of
the people to help us cut wood for the steamer. God’s
blessing has been very manifestly upoi^ us.

* I was very, very glad to get the kind tokens sent

232 Autumn, 1884, to Autumn, 1887

by my Birmingham friends. By a mere accident they
escaped the fire. The chronometer is one which would
have delighted Livingstone. It would have saved him
no end of trouble in taking observations. It is exactly
what is wanted for astronomical observing. One can
do single-handed now, and yet run no risk of missing
the observation. I’ve lost several good observations
for lack of a skilled helper at the chronometer, for even
taking the time needs experience.’

On July 2 6 Grenfell wrote to Mr. Baynes from the
new station, Kinshasa, Stanley Pool, describing some
of the incidents of his long voyage. I quote one sig-
nificant passage.

‘ When on our previous visit to the Falls Station we
found the place dominated by the Arabs, and the State
establishment only existing by their sufferance. The
natives, recognizing the Arabs to be the stronger, were,
of course, loyal to them, and disloyal to the State ; but
just as the strong measures resorted to by the authorities
on the river have resulted in the peaceful attitude of the
people, so the show of force and of independence at
the Falls has secured the allegiance of many of the
disaffected.

‘ The Arabs themselves can scarcely be afraid of the
force which might be opposed to them, but they are
evidently restrained from dealing in the same high-
handed manner as before — we suppose, by diplomatic
action at Zanzibar. At any rate, the chief of the
Stanley Falls Station is able to assert his position, and
so far has managed to maintain it, though when we left
matters were becoming rather critical.

‘ It appears that, a short time before our arrival, a
slave woman took refuge in the State camp, and the

Mr. Deane and the Arabs 233

Arabs, finding out her retreat, applied to Mr. Deane (an
Englishman), who is chief of the station, with the natural
result that he refused to send her back.

‘ A few days later, however, the Arabs caught her,
flogged her severely, and kept her prisoner. An oppor-
tunity for escape occurring, she immediately fled to the
camp once more, and during the time we were at the
Falls, Bwana Sige, Tippoo Tib’s deputy, came across,
and made formal application for her. At this juncture
Mr. Deane asked us missionaries to be present as
witnesses at the palaver, and on our arrival proceeded
to explain to Bwana Sige that he had no wish to act in
any unfriendly way towards the Arabs, but that the
woman must decide for herself ; if she wished to return,
the way was quite open, but that it was impossible for
him to hand her over. As an officer of the State he
could not, and as an Englishman he would not, be party
to compelling the woman to return to her masters
against her will.

‘ He, at the same time, expressed his readiness to
call her, that she might be heard ; but this Bwana Sige
would not agree to, as he well knew the woman feared,
as she had every reason to do, for her life, did she but
once fall into Arab hands. Bwana Sige proceeded to
inquire whether Mr. Deane had well considered what he
said, and whether he could take care of his head. Mr.
Deane replied that he had considered the matter very
thoroughly, and that he thought he could “ take care
of his head ” — at any rate, he would try. Bwana Sige,
finding that he could not arrange the matter to his
satisfaction, began to lose his temper, and after awhile
left in high dudgeon.

‘ I may say that, if the worst came to the worst, the
chief of Stanley Falls Station and his forty or fifty men

234 Autumn, 1884, to Autumn, 1887

would “ give a good account of themselves.” Mr. Deane,
having seen a lot of hard service in India, has had to
“ take care of his head ” a good many times. A year
ago, in an affair with the natives, he was surprised during
a heavy storm at night, and was speared right through
the thigh (a wound that very nearly cost him his life) ;
but he did not lose nerve, for, drawing the spear out of
the wound, he fought with that, as he could reach no
other weapon without irretrievably exposing himself to
his assailants. I am afraid, however, if it came to a
rupture with the Arabs, that his bravery would not save
him — even Gordon was overcome by numbers.’

Among other letters awaiting Grenfell upon his
return to Stanley Pool was one from Mr. Robert
Arthington, dated, Leeds, England, March 9, 1886.
The opening is a quaint, solemn, and really eloquent
acknowledgment of God’s goodness in aiding Grenfell in
work so important to His Kingdom. The writer goes
on to beg that Grenfell will disregard his suggestions,
unless they are endorsed by his own judgment, and
continues : 4 I want to know the exact point on the upper
waters, say of the Mubangi, by latitude and longitude,
where it would be most helpful or promising to pass to
the highest navigable point on the Shari River which
flows into Lake Tchad. I want to know the nearest
point — to be reached by available waterway of any kind,
on, or from, the Congo River, between, say the Aruwimi
and the first of the Stanley Falls — to either the Albert
Nyanza, or to the Muta Nzige (to the actual Lakes), or
to a navigable point by latitude and longitude on some
river flowing east into either the Albert Nyanza or the
Muta Nzige — the lakes above referred to.’

Mr. Arthington is also concerned about the possibility

Going into Dock 235

of passing from the Congo, via the Kasai, or some other
affluent, to the Zambesi.

In a grateful and sympathetic reply Grenfell laments
that at present his physical condition compels him to
think of a period of rest. He feels that it is i folly for
mortals as well as ships to carry on till they can hold
together no longer, instead of going into dock from time
to time/ The last three and a half years have meant
strain for him, and when he has completed four years he
will have to visit England. This may permit him to see
Mr. Arthington.

1 In the meantime, however,’ he says, ‘ I will reply
briefly to your three questions, only regretting that as
yet time and opportunity have not served for the “ Peace”
to cover all the available ground, and that I am there-
fore unable to speak definitely as to possibilities still
before us.

* 1st. Up the Mubangi the farthest point reached by
the “ Peace ” was 40 30' North latitude, and 190 25' East
longitude, distant from Shari Valley about three degrees.
River still open when we turned back.

‘2nd. Farthest point up the Kasai 50 22' South
latitucfe and 20° 40' East longitude. Distant from the
Garanganje country, or Lake Dibolo, about six degrees.

‘ 3rd. Nearest point to the lakes yet attained by the
“ Peace,” is Stanley Falls, 30' North latitude and about
2 50 East longitude.

‘ Although the Mubangi was still an open waterway
where we left it, yet I think it will scarcely approach the
Shari valley more closely than at the point where we
found the course strike suddenly away eastwards, some
dozen miles or so below our turning-point.

‘ I do not think that any of the as yet unvisited afflu-
ents of the Kasai will furnish us with a nearer approach

236 Autumn, 1884, to Autumn, 1887

to the Zambesi Valley than the point we have already
attained, distant, I take it, some 400 miles from Arnot’s
proposed destination. . . .

‘ When I look back, and see the wondrous way by
which the Lord has brought me, and consider how He
has honoured me with a place in the forefront among
those who go forth on the Congo to obey His command
to preach the Gospel of the Kingdom, my heart is very
heavy, that I am able to do so little.’

To Mr. Baynes.

Stanley Pool, July 27.

* I must find a few minutes for another matter. It
concerns the enclosed copy of letter which awaited my
return from up river. I also enclose my reply, open, for
your perusal, and will ask you to please seal and send
forward.

‘You will observe that Mr. Arthington opens up,
suggestively, a very wide field for future pioneering
work, with which I am personally very much in sympathy,
but which I cannot venture to undertake till I have both
received further orders from the Committee, and in some
measure recruited my health. This forward work is,
perhaps, a matter it will be wise to keep open till I have
an opportunity for personally conferring with yourself or
the Committee. I came down river this last time quite
expecting that my “pioneering” days were done, and
that I was about to settle down into the quiet, and to
me, after my wanderings, very agreeable routine of
station life.

‘ I was thinking that with the amount of young blood
we have in the Mission it would not be needful that I
should continue to fill the position in which circumstances
have placed me, somewhat prominently, during the past

‘Only not a Wreck’

237

two years. However, if in your view and Mr. Arthington’s
it is right that I should not entirely delegate the
“forward” work to other hands, I shall take it as an
indication of the direction in which my duty lies.
Wherever my efforts may be best expended, I shall
esteem it my joy to serve, and whatever may present
itself as the “ next thing,” I shall attempt in the name
of Him upon Whom we may rely for all needful grace
and strength.'

To Mrs. Hartland.

Kinshasa, August 8.

‘,We have just received Bentley’s telegram, telling us
he starts with four new men by the September mail.
This is very good news, but I fear something will hinder
him ; he still has lots of printing work to do.

‘Thank you very much for the verses you send.
“Safe Home . . . And only not a Wreck,” I like amaz-
ingly, and I’ve carefully stowed it away with other good
things. Thanks also for the many items of interesting
news you send. Mr. Hawker is your new pastor, you
say! He was an old college chum of mine. So was
Baillie, who has taken Chown’s place. We were all three
of the same “ year.” ’

To the Rev. A. Billington, of the American Baptist
Missionary Union.

August 9.

‘ Somehow, one of the greatest difficulties I find in
bringing myself to consider the question of going to
England lies in the necessity of trusting the “ Peace” to
the tender mercies of others. In my own mind, nobody
will ever do for her as I have done. That’s egotism,
no doubt, a sort of paternal weakness for the craft, for
which, perhaps, I may be excused. You can understand

238 Autumn, 1884, to Autumn, 1887

something about the feeling, I fancy, if others cannot .
I’m hammering away at our new dock ; have got a third
of the ways down, but have just come to springs in the
dock bed, which have been giving us a lot of trouble,
and which threaten us with many more difficulties as we
push ahead/

At the end of August Grenfell was hopeful that
Lukolela would immediately be occupied, and the up-
river work fairly commenced. He recognized that the
loss of building materials and stores by fire would
involve increased hardship at the start, but he felt that
that must not be allowed to hinder. In the event, the
forward move was again delayed by illness, and it was
not until September 30 that the “Peace” steamed up
river, to locate Richards and Davies at Lukolela, and
stand by for a month, while Grenfell and his crew helped
them to put up their first houses. Lake Leopold was
visited en route , but the main purpose of the voyage
was not fulfilled. Davies became seriously ill on the
journey, and was brought back in a grave condition
to Stanley Pool. Once more sad news awaited Grenfell
upon his return. During his absence, his baby boy,
two months old, had passed away, and the loss was
keenly felt.

To Mr. Baynes.

Stanley Pool, October 23.

‘ You will be grieved to learn that the Arabs have
compassed the ousting of the State from the Falls. The
strained relationships of which I have already informed
you came to a crisis, and the station was invested by
some eight hundred men. Mr, Deane and his thirty or
forty soldiers fought till all their cartridges were done,
then blew up the station, threw their arms in the river,

Lukolela Founded

239

and escaped at midnight. After the hardships of a
three days’ battle Mr. Deane spent a month in the
forest, and has come down river, a mere wreck of his
former self. His comrade, Lieutenant Dubois, was
drowned, and nineteen of his men are missing. Captain
Coquilhat, who rescued Mr. Deane in the small steamer
‘ A.I.A.,’ had to run the gauntlet of the Arabs, and got
wounded in the arm. He goes home by this mail.’

* November 17. The “ Peace ” set out for Lukolela
once more, on the 28th ultimo, but on reaching Kimpoko
(Bishop Taylor’s station, at the other end of the Pool),
our brethren found Mr. Shoreland so ill that it was deter-
mined to return to Leopoldville, that the sick man might
be taken to the doctor. On the 1st instant the “ Peace ”
started up river once more, and the latest news I have is
dated the 3rd, just as she was leaving Kimpoko, the
crew hungry and discontented, and no food on board.
The steamer towed the station canoe up to Kimpoko,
that it might return with supplies for us ; but we were
greatly disappointed by the return of the empty canoe,
and by the information that the steamer had not been
able to supply its own wants. Mr. Shoreland, I am glad
to learn from the doctor at Leopoldville, is much better,
being hopeful of returning to Kimpoko this week.’

This time success was recorded, and the station at
Lukolela was founded on November 13 by Darby and
Biggs, Charters having command of the “ Peace.” But
in December Grenfell started upon another voyage, of
which some account is given in the following letter : —

To Mr. Baynes.

Stanley Pool, January 4, 1887.

* It is not every time that the “ Peace,” on returning
from a voyage, finds good news awaiting her. This

240 Autumn, 1884, to Autumn, 1887

time, however, after journeying up the Kwango as far as
it was navigable, our hearts have been gladdened by
tidings of the completion of the Stanley Pool Fire Fund.
It is barely six months since the catastrophe, yet in that
time the news has travelled to England, the appeal has
been made and responded to, and now we have tidings
that the loss is entirely covered by special contributions !

* My brethren and myself feel this to be the occasion
for a letter of thanks to those churches and friends who
have come forward so nobly and lifted off our hearts the
shadow of the great calamity which overtook us last
Midsummer Day. We regard it as a magnificent vote
of confidence ; and I feel sure that this very emphatic
evidence of sympathy will be followed by such prayers
as are no small factor in our being sustained. Our
hearts are gladdened, and we give hearty thanks because
of you. Our joy is full.

‘This last journey of ours was undertaken (Mr. and
Mrs. Bentley, Mr. Charters, Mr. Darby, Dr. Mense, of
the Congo Free State, and myself, were the party on
board) in the hope that we should find the Kwango
navigable as far south as the latitude of San Salvador.
We felt that the probabilities were against us, but that
it was important, before definitely adopting any plan of
campaign, that we should have all the details ; and this
last river, the one nearest to us, strange to say, not
having been ascended to its ultimate point, we deter-
mined to make the journey, and see what its bearing
might be on the problem of overland communication.
If it transpired that the waterway was clear to the
latitude of San Salvador, it would not be much farther
to the upper river system, via that place, than the
present route to Stanley Pool, and the advantage of
plenty of carriers would be secured, a matter of very

MISSION CANOE ON THE UPPER CONGO.
Missionary Visiting an Out-station.

Photo : Rev. Wm. Forfeitt.

LETTING DOWN FISHING-NET, BOPOTO.
Photo : Rev. Wm. Forfeitt,

Terrible Whistles

241

great importance, when we consider the straits we are
in because of the difficulty in getting our loads carried
through to Arthington.

‘In 1880, Major von Mechow put an iron boat on
the Kwango at a point a hundred miles south of the
latitude of San Salvador, and travelled northward for
nearly two hundred miles to the Kingunji Rapids, which
were described as possibly passable at high water. We
chose the time of high water, and proceeded southward
from the confluence with the Kasai for about one
hundred and fifty miles, and then found our way barred
by the same obstacle which Von Mechow encountered
when he approached it from the other side six years ago.
It is greatly to be deplored that a miserable fall, only
about as high as a table, should bar the way nearly in
the middle of a four hundred mile stretch of waterway.
Native canoes are hauled past, and boats might be, but
it was too much for the “ Peace/ ” and so we had to
return.

‘ In the lower parts of the Kwango we had some
difficulty in communicating with the people on account
of their language ; but as we got farther south, Mr.
Bentley and Nlemvo found they were among people
with whom they could speak freely, and to whom they
could explain something of the work missionaries came
to do.

‘ People were friendly everywhere, excepting at one
place. Here one morning four men came out with guns
to bar our way, as they threatened they would do the
previous evening ; but when we blew our terrible pair of
steam whistles, and made them shriek their loudest and
most discordant notes, the way the warlike expedition
collapsed, and the warriors helped their paddlers pull for
the shore, was so comical that we could not forbear a

242 Autumn, 1884, to Autumn, 1887

hearty laugh ; and as we passed the abandoned craft on
the beach from which it had so vauntingly set forth a
few minutes before, I am sorry to say our crew in-
dulged in rude chaff to the best of their ability (they
have great capacity in that direction) for the benefit
of the runaways, who could not have been out of
earshot.

‘ As I purpose starting down country, “ homeward
bound,” to-morrow, I will not write more, but will wait
the opportunity to tell you of the wonderful opening up
of the country and of the glorious possibilities before us.
May God give us all grace and strength for the work !
A grander work never was set before the Christian
Church.’

To Mr. Lewis.

S.S. s Nubia,’ near Gaboon, February 14.

‘ This last letter of yours I found awaiting me on my
return to the Pool on January 2, and was moved by your
appeals to the memories of old times to sit down at once
and respond, as was due. However, it was not possible,
for we had returned to find the station dragging along
on “short commons,” and it became necessary to clear
out at once, to avoid an absolute famine. So, starting
some of our things off the following day, we ourselves
cleared out on the 5th, homeward bound. The interval
was too short to allow of my getting through the business
that was called for in turning the station over to Bentley.
However, we did what we could (leaving letters, as you
may imagine, in the background), and managed to put
things a bit ship-shape, and made arrangements for the
steamer to go up river again, as we went down country,
so as to relieve the pressure for food which obtained at
Arthington Station.

A Period of Rest

243

‘ There have been two successive failures in the matter
of rainfall, and the consequence is that food is very scarce.
As yet we have suffered but very slightly, and only few
meal-times have passed without something being given
out to our children and workpeople. I am afraid, how-
ever, that the worst of the pinch is in the future. The
present season being one of plentiful rain, and of great
promise ; we have only to hold out a little longer, and
the pinch will have passed. Six months more, and
we shall have something to go on with, though it
takes a year or a year and a half, or even more, for
the cassada crops, which are the mainstay, to come to
maturity.’

To Mr. Baynes.

Same date.

‘ I am already better for being free of the responsi-
bilities of my recent position, the more acute symptoms
being much modified, and I trust that a period of rest
in the “old country” will enable me, if God wills, to
resume my work with renewed strength, and with tenfold
increased devotion.’

The s.s. ‘ Nubia ’ having reached Liverpool, Grenfell
spent most of his shortened furlough in London, and
letters available give one or two suggestive glimpses of
time in going and coming.

To Mr. Hawkes.

Bury, March 30.

‘We shall be passing near to Birmingham on our
way to London to-morrow. If it would be suitable to
you, it would be a great pleasure for us to take you
en route , and stay the night. We have with us a little
black boy and a girl, in addition to our three selves.

244 Autumn, 1884, to Autumn, 1887

These two are nine or ten years old, and need scarcely
any consideration. On board steamer they rolled them-
selves up in their blankets (which they carry with them),
and “ turned in ” on the deck : here they lie on the floor.
If we make a bit of fuss with them, we shall have trouble
to get them down to the old status when we return. . . .
I go on to Liverpool to see about a boat in an hour’s
time. Came up from London yesterday.’

To Mrs. Harland.

Shepherd’s Bush, April 14.

4 You will be very sorry to hear that I found our poor
little Peg, when I went down to Cornwall on Wednesday
last, suffering from a wound which she had inflicted with
a pair of scissors on her right eye, and which Dr. Tweedy
says will involve a serious operation. There will be a con-
sultation next week, and we shall know more about it.
We are in great trouble. Poor Mamma is quite dis-
consolate, and says she does not care to go anywhere
while this cloud hangs so heavily. You will therefore
please excuse us. We shall be sure to make going to
see you one of our first visits. I am far from well, and
am trying to take care of myself indoors.’

The operation was performed, and Pattie lost an eye.
Thus, by a curious and sad coincidence, the child suffered
precisely the same misfortune as her father had sustained
in his youth.

Toward the end of June Grenfell is still in Shepherd’s
Bush, delaying his departure from London that he may
see the Jubilee procession. Shortly after, he goes to
Belgium, to further Mission interests, and to do some
geographical work.

Received by the King- 245

To Mr. Baynes.

Chateau Gingalom, Gingalom, Belgium, July 11.

‘ On Saturday I was received by the King at his
palace, and had an interview of more than an hour’s
duration. He was very gracious, and desired that I
should convey to you the assurance of his very kind
regard. Strangely enough, he expressed great interest
in those portions of his State to which Mr. Arthington
seems specially drawn, the Upper Mubangi and the
district in which Arnot has settled. He went so far as
to “ hope ” that our Society (he said “ you ”) would be
able to push on in these directions. He seems bent on
carrying the railway through, even though at his own
expense, and speaks in the most positive way of its
ultimate accomplishment. He realizes the difficulties of
the position very keenly, especially that of labour.’

To Mr. Hawkes.

Brussels, July 17.

‘ I have been busy during the past week collating
data and furnishing details for a map of the Pool, which
the executive here are preparing for the basis of negotia-
tions with France, respecting the delimitation of the
French frontier on the Pool.

‘ I have had lots of flattering notices by the press-— and
invitations ad lib. I want to be quiet. Should have left
last week but for the map work.’

August 9, 1887, was a memorable day in Grenfell’s
life. He called at the Mission House, and met the Rev.
J. H. Weeks, who had just returned from the Congo.
Mr. Weeks, whose illness had caused grave anxiety, was
much better, but he was the bearer of heavy tidings.

246 Autumn, 1884, to Autumn, 1887

Mr. Baynes was away for his holiday, and the following
three telegrams, despatched by Grenfell in quick suc-
cession, tell their own story : —

‘Chancery Lane Office, 11.43 a*m- To A. H.
Baynes, 6, Pearl Street, Saltburn. Weeks is here, very,
very much better. But Thomas Comber died at
Mayumba, homeward bound, via German mail, end
July. Am overwhelmed, Grenfell/

‘ Cornhill Office, 12.42 p.m. To Baynes, Saltburn,
Shall I come down at once ? Weeks thinks I ought to
go out by first mail. Grenfell, 19, Furnival Street/

‘ Chancery Lane Office, 1.34 p.m. To Baynes, Salt-
burn. I am ready to go by “ Imbria,” Grenfell/

On the same day he wrote the following letter to Mr.
Baynes, which subsequently appeared in the Missionary
Herald -

Baptist Missionary Society.

19, Furnival Street, London, E.C., August 9, 1887.

‘After the anxiety consequent upon Mr. Weeks’
failure to arrive as expected by the last mail, you will
be very glad to learn that he has safely reached London,
and that he is very much better ; but though you are
now able to dispel all fear on his account, you will be
overwhelmed by the sad tidings he brings.

‘ I scarcely know how to write it — my heart is, indeed,
very, very sore — for one of the heaviest blows that could
have fallen upon our Congo Mission has just come down
with terribly crushing effect.

‘ The enclosed letter from Dr. Small (if you have
already perused it) will have told you of the dreadful
condition to which our dear brother Comber was reduced
when he was put on board the German mail as a last

Death of Comber 247

resource — a resource which, Mr. Weeks learned on his
homeward voyage, proved of no avail.

‘ It appears that the serious symptoms which charac-
terized the illness of my dear colleague were in no
measure reduced ; indeed, they became more and more
acute, and before the German mail steamer had
journeyed more than a couple of hundred miles on its
homeward voyage our brother had finished all his
journeyings, and his spirit had reached the great home-
land, and entered into the presence of the Lord and
Master whom he loved so dearly.

‘The German mail is due next week, and it is
expected that it will bring the history of the case
referred to by Dr. Small, and also details from Mr.
Scrivener. In the meantime we must be content with
the verbal information given by Mr. Fuller, of Came-
roons, to Mr. Weeks, who arrived at that place a few
days after the German steamer had left on her slow
voyage to Hamburg. From this information it appears
that our brother died at sea at the close of June, or early
in July, but that his body was not committed to the
deep ; for the captain, finding it was possible to reach
Mayumba (a little more than 200 miles north of the
mouth of the Congo River), headed for that place, and
furnished an opportunity for burial there.

‘ This news, though very scant, is very definite, and
it is altogether too well| confirmed to allow of our
retaining any hope that it might be untrue ; and so with
sad heart we must resign ourselves to waiting for the
sorrowful details.

‘ Not only does this blow fall on us, who have lost
a loving-hearted friend and devoted fellow-worker, who
was ever ready to sacrifice himself, and whose charity
never failed, but you will remember, as I do, the

248 Autumn, 1884, to Autumn, 1887

heaviness and bitterness that this stroke will bring to
the hearts of dear relatives and a wide circle of very
affectionate friends. I know you will join with me in
praying that the God of all consolation, the great
Comforter, will sustain sorrow-stricken hearts.

‘You know, my dear Mr. Baynes, the especially
close bonds of sympathy which bound my dear col-
league, Tom Comber, to myself, and how intimately
we have been associated during the past ten years ; you
know, too, many of the difficulties we have faced, and
many of the sorrows we have borne together, and will,
I am confident, sympathize very sincerely and tenderly
with me, and with those who mourn the loss of one of
the greatest and dearest of friends.*

In a second letter, still of the same date, Grenfell
reports an interview with Thomas Comber’s father, in
which he and Mr. Weeks had communicated the heart-
breaking news, and adds: ‘I have already commenced
to pack my things.’

A week later, writing to Mr. Baynes, he says —

• I thank you very sincerely for your very kind letter

of yesterday, and also for having enclosed Sir

— — ’s note respecting my going out. I have been
thinking the matter over most carefully for the past six
hours, and I can’t bring myself to the idea that I shall
be doing the right thing by staying a month — the need
seems imperative, and the more imperative the more I
think of it. My wife (whose judgment in matters con-
cerning our Mission I know to be worthy of considera-
tion), though she regrets very much having to leave
England so early, feels with me that we are called back
to the Congo without delay.

‘ I know that going out means lots of hard work and

Another Spell of Work 249

anxiety, but I feel that it will be harder work, and that
I shall be more anxious, if I stay at home. I do not
doubt that my physical condition is quite equal to
another spell of work on the Congo (not a long spell,
perhaps), and you may rely upon my good sense and
my instinct of self-preservation for protecting the
interests of the Mission, in so far as they are identical
with my poor life.

‘The waiting for a month of course would be very
convenient for me. It would give me so much more
time to get ready. But what of our poor fellows on the
Congo, who will be glad of a month’s help from me ? . . .

‘ I forgot to give you my address during the coming
few days. I expect to leave London on Thursday even-
ing, and to stay till Friday evening with Dr. Glover at
Westfield Park, Bristol. Saturday and Sunday I hope
to be with my mother, Mrs. Grenfell, Ennis Cottage,
Sancreed, nr. Penzance. Monday I propose to sleep in
Birmingham (52, Princess Road, Edgbaston) and to go
on to Liverpool in the afternoon. This of course is a
“ programme ” liable to variation.’

The letters of these days make it clear that Grenfell
had to fight for permission to answer the call for imme-
diate return, which the clamant needs of the Mission
made articulate to his own soul. There arose in the
minds of some of the most ardent and loyal supporters
of the Mission a conviction that his furlough ought not
to be shortened, and that to allow him to return to
Congo before his health was fully re-established would
involve the taking of unwarrantable risks. This convic-
tion found decided expression in a letter from Sir

to Mr. Baynes. The spirit of the letter is admir-
able, and the writer intimates that if his advice is not

250 Autumn, 1834, to Autumn, 1887

taken, he will harbour no resentment, and pray that his
forebodings may not be fulfilled. But the burden is upon
his soul, and he must discharge it.

I quote the following sentences. The letter is dated
August 13, and addressed to Mr. Baynes : —

‘What I felt on reading your decision to send out
Grenfell at once was that you must be acting on some
information not accessible to me. Grenfell’s impulse to
go at once I understand. He would be sure to be ready
to leap into the breach ; but is it wise to let him ? I
doubt it. There will be much depression among the
Churches under this new loss, and doubts as to the
wisdom of sacrificing so many noble young lives will
be raised. Should Grenfell now go out, before his full
furlough is up, and should he, while excited and anxious,
and still enfeebled, be also struck down, the Congo
Mission would receive a staggering blow.

‘ Grenfell is and has been the first man there. It is
he, and not Comber, who has fired the imagination of
our young people, and won the admiration of the older.
That Comber was a most important element in the
Mission is clear enough, and his loss fills us with grief,
but he was of more ordinary stuff than Grenfell. Gren-
fell is one of a generation, as a Gospel pioneer. Do let
him get strong, and do not run risks with his life.’

In a letter dated August 17, Grenfell explains to
Mr. Baynes that his absorption in the main matter has
caused him to overlook things of minor importance, and
proceeds —

‘ I feel that I must not allow Sir ’s very

flattering remarks to pass without my telling you that
I think he has done Mr. Comber’s memory an injustice
in ranking his influence second to mine. I knew
Comber’s sterling worth, and the wide-reaching power

Tribute to Comber

251

of the sympathy he commanded too well to allow for one
moment that the glare of my pioneering was more
potent. To certain minds the work which I have been
privileged to do appeals more strikingly than the work
of my dear colleague ; but it is only to a small section
of the constituents of our Society that this would apply.

‘ I thank God for the work Comber has done.
He was the man raised up for the work, and I look
round very anxiously for one who may be able to wear
his mantle. He seems to my mind to have had
exceptional ability in guiding and leading others, and
I very much fear we shall very badly miss his faculty
in this matter. To his gentle and wise dealings the
Committee have to attribute the freedom from that
“friction” which often manifests itself in enterprises
such as ours, and I pray very sincerely that a spirit of
love and forbearance may be granted to the Congo
brethren, and that we may be enabled to work together
in such harmony as should characterize our dealings
one with another. . . .

‘ I shall call at the Mission House on Monday evening,
on my way to Liverpool. I can’t see my way a bit
clearer to agree to stopping.’

As one who knew personally both Comber and
Grenfell, I am of opinion that the latter’s disclaimer
of pre-eminence was according to truth. God set these
men side by side. They were both great ; each great
enough to think the other greater. Their gifts were
diverse and complementary, but they understood, revered,
and thanked God for one another.

They were God’s greatest gifts to the Congo Mission
in its early days. But ‘ the one was taken and the other
left.’ Comber was a radiant being, compact of sunshine,
enthusiasm, power, and love. He had the heart of a

252 Autumn, 1884, to Autumn, 1887

little child, and children idolized him. He could hold
them spell-bound while he discoursed of the love of
Jesus, and when play-time came, could share with them
the ecstasies of a madcap frolic of his own devising.
He had a will of tempered steel, as Stanley discovered
and confessed. His sympathy was as inexhaustible as
his energy, and his judgment was swift and sound.
While Grenfell was specializing as explorer, Comber was
the recognized leader of the Mission, trusted and beloved
by all. The early death of such a man confirms our
Christian faith that death is illusory, and not real. Such
a labourer, who entered the ‘vineyard’ so early, and
wrought with such zeal while the sun climbed the sky,
could not, by any accident of mortality, be defrauded of
his ‘penny.’ And God could not affront the soul of
‘ Vianga Vianga ’ by proffering him a lesser recompense
than ‘ the wages of going on, and not to die.’

On August 1 8 Grenfell writes a brief note to
Mr. Baynes, thanking him for sympathy, expressing
intense relief in that he is permitted to go, and arranging
to meet his friend and chief under the clock at Lime
Street, Liverpool.

On the 23rd he sailed, with his wife and his new
colleagues, Brown and Harrison, not in the yacht-like
‘Nubia,’ which he had hoped would be their ship, but in
the ‘ Landana,’ which ‘ had been “ laid up ” in dock for
more than a year, and was fusty enough to turn the
stomach of a camel.’ But the ‘ fusty, musty, dirty, tarry ’
old craft was thoroughly rinsed out in the Bay of Biscay,
and would thereafter have been tolerable, but for her
wicked trick of losing time. The letter from which I
gather these descriptive notes, addressed to Mrs. Hart-
land, is perhaps the most vituperative of Grenfell’s

‘The Dowdy old Craft’ 253

epistles. He cannot get done with abusing ‘ the dowdy
old craft.’ There is no mystery in this, when we note
that his sea-sickness was severe.

At Cameroons the party picked up John Pinnock and
his wife, most valuable reinforcements, and early in
October arrived at Underhill, much behind time.

‘The pressure is even greater than was anticipated
when we decided that I should start for the Congo, and
I feel more and more that I did the right thing in hurrying
out. I have already had a good look round, and have
determined that after a month or two, spent in straight-
ening up, it will be right and wise for me to go up to the
Pool ; and unless I get a telegram from you I purpose to
move to the front again. The brethren are unanimous
in asking Bentley to give his attention to Kishi-Congo
literature, seeing that now Comber has left us we have
no one else who is able to undertake the work of trans-
lation. Some suggest San Salvador, others Underhill
and Wathen ; but while the point of Bentley’s station
is still unsettled he has acceded to the request, and
promised to remove to within the Congo limits, so as
to secure the “ environment ” necessary for satisfactory
translation work. This will leave the Pool forward
without a senior, and I feel I am called thither to stop
the gap. Davies and Percy Comber are strongly
attached to Wathen, and I cannot advise their transfer-
ring themselves to the new circumstances of Arthington,
and losing all the advantages of their experience among
the Congo people, and their knowledge of the language.

‘ Brown goes up to the Pool at once, and with the
help of one or other of the brethren will hold on till I
come — possibly with Harrison — about the end of the
year.

CHAPTER XII

FORWARD MOVEMENTS ON THE
UPPER RIVER

Death of Whitley and Biggs— A Bottle of Ammonia Fort —
Christmas on the Kwilu River— Arrival at Stanley Pool— Death
of Belgian Officers— New Stations formed— Health Precautions
—The ‘Down Grade’ — Mission Work at Arthington — Mr.
Wilmot Brooke — The Question of Advance or Retreat — Death
of Richards— A Tornado— Grenfell’s Refusal to come Home —
At Bolobo — Death of Slade— First Baptismal Service at Bolobo
—Death of Jack Dikulu— Darby’s Work— His Dog — Ten
Commandments translated — Upoto — Over Forty — Another
Christmas— Another Little War— Translation of St. Mark’s
Gospel— Advantages of Upoto— Mr. Lawson Forfeitt’s Letter—
Slave-killing— Mr. Arthington’s Desire to go Forward.

IN returning to Africa under conditions indicated in
the foregoing chapter, Grenfell was well aware that
the advance upon the upper river, so dear and so urgent
to his soul, must needs be retarded by the inestimable
loss to the Mission involved in Comber’s death. While
he was making his voyage amid petty discomforts which
provoked his humorous complaints, news was passing
him upon the sea which caused great heaviness of heart
in England, and added immensely to his cares and to the
difficulties which must be surmounted before the new
stations, ever present to his dreams, could be materialized
upon the banks of the Congo.

On arriving at Banana he learnt with amazement and
great grief that two more of the brethren had laid down

256 Movements on the Upper River

the weapons of their warfare on earth, answering their
Commander’s mysterious call to the Unseen. At Banana
he tried to hope that the news was mistaken ; but a day
or two later, at Underhill, he learned beyond all doubt
that Whitley had died at Lukungu, on August 3, and
that Biggs had died at Stanley Pool, three weeks later,
after seven days’ fever. But his grief was mingled with
joy, as he found that the soldierly temper of his comrades
remained unshaken by these new losses, and he wrote
home an instant and confident appeal for men to fill
the gaps.

It was hoped, when Grenfell was permitted to return
before the conclusion of his furlough, that his stay in
Africa would be brief : that after spending a few months
in putting things in order, he would come home again,
and take his full share of rest. But three years elapsed
before he picked up the threads of his broken furlough —
three years crammed with strenuous service. Even then
he came hurriedly and without premeditation, driven by
exigencies which will be described at length in the next
chapter.

When he did return he was able to record the
establishment of three new stations, at one of which he
had made a new home for himself, and a new depot for
the steamer. During the greater part of this period the
‘ Peace ’ was solely in his charge, and a large proportion
of his time was spent in going and coming. The quiet
station work for which his soul longed was continually
postponed, and though he had made his home at Bolobo,
which he came to love with intense affection, he was too
often ‘ not at home.’

At the end of November, 1888, he concludes a letter
to Miss Hawkes as follows : ‘ I expect we shall start up
river again in the “ Peace ” on December 15, bound for

VIEW IN ONE OF THE BOLOBO TOWNS.
Photo : G. Grenfell.

CHOPO FALLS, LINDI RIVER.
Photo: Rev. Wm. Forfeitt.

The Passion for Souls

257

Bangala. This will be the longest voyage attempted
since our return. . . . This, you will say, is like all your
letters, full of going and coming, and rushing here and
there, and little or nothing about Mission work. Well,
somebody must do the drudgery, or we should break in
upon the regularity of the work here at Nshasha or at
Lukolela, at both of which places organized and regular
Mission work is being done. I hope soon to be able to tell
you of settled work at Bolobo. I long for it very devoutly.’

It will be impossible in these pages to trace in due
sequence all this ‘going and coming and rushing here
and there,’ but the selections made from his correspond-
ence may suffice to reveal the man, and to indicate not
inadequately the nature of his work. Certainly the
reader will never understand Grenfell, unless he realizes
that this competent engineer, expert traveller, and bril-
liant explorer was first of all a missionary. The passion
for souls possessed him. The mechanical and geo-
graphical work which he did so nobly was done in sub-
mission to the will of God, and at the cost of self-denial.
He yearned for direct spiritual service, and, incompre-
hensible as it may seem to the man of science, it is
simply true, that the explorer’s exultation which thrilled
him when the morning sun flashed upon his gaze the
broad splendours of a previously undiscovered lake, was
a faint emotion compared with the joy which possessed
him when he saw the light of the knowledge of the
glory of God transfiguring some dear black face, which
his ministry had turned toward the face of Christ.

A poor Congo boy passes away in his presence,
radiant with the Christian’s victory over death. Grenfell
rises from his bedside to bear witness that the sight of
such another victory would be sufficient compensation
for another fifteen years of toil in Africa. Medals,

258 Movements on the Upper River

decorations, fame, are incidental trifles to a man of this
order. He works for higher wages. ^And when he him-
self lay dying, afar from the dear ones of his own flesh
and blood, the black boys who stood about his couch
with streaming eyes and breaking hearts, shaken by
his anguish, and sharers of his hope, who called him
‘ Father,’ and whom he called ‘ sons ’ : these were in that
death-hour his ‘ beloved and longed for, his joy and his
crown.’

After dealing with the press of business which awaited
him at Underhill, Grenfell commenced inquiries with a
view to ascertain assignable causes, if such existed, of the
recent heavy losses. But nothing specific could be dis-
covered. There seemed no reason why the Baptist Mission
should suffer more than others ; and in the event it was
proved that though its troubles had come with a rush,
other Missions and commercial enterprises were liable to
like disasters. Certain simple counsels, however, he was
constrained to proffer. Tinned meats should be used
sparingly, and the false economy of stinting disallowed.
Drugs should be regarded with suspicion, and quinine
taken in small doses. He was also strongly of opinion
that it was all gain for a missionary to be married, for
the simple reasons that a wife would take care of his
diet, and constrain him to take reasonable care of
himself.

Now for his own words.

To Mrs. Hartland.

November 8.

‘ I wonder if I shall ever find a resting-place for the
sole of my foot, this side Jordan. ... How fast the
band “ over there ” is increasing ! We who are still left

An Episcopal Wood-Cutter 259

cannot but wonder how soon we too may be called to
join. Not our will, but His be done.’

The same date, to Mr. Baynes anent Bishop Taylor’s
‘Self-supporting Mission’ (Methodist Episcopal Church
of America).

‘ I must give Bishop Taylor credit for a great deal.
He is in earnest. He is patient. He is a sincere,
good man whom I greatly admire, but he is no more
fit to encounter the practical difficulties of the work
he has in hand than I am to organize an expedition to
the moon. His people are like himself, ready to endure
great hardships. . . . The Bishop himself sets the example
by cutting firewood day after day. I told him, however,
we could get a man to cut wood for half a dollar a day,
and it hardly paid for a Bishop to do it. . . . They have
lots to learn yet.’

[Bishop Taylor died in America some years ago, long
after his Mission on the Congo ceased to exist.]

To Mr. Baynes.

December 6.

‘ Our need for reinforcements is very great, and
unless help speedily arrives we shall imperil our Pool and
Lukolela Stations. The steamer has not been docked
since April last, and cannot be docked until I reach
Arthington. Bentley is worrying himself because of our
position being so serious, and is preparing the way for
a serious illness, if he does not learn to take things
more calmly. Things do not move so fast nor run so
satisfactorily as his ardent spirit desires, and he chafes
sorely. If I had his energy and “ go,” I might feel as
keenly as he does, but my more lethargic temperament
suits my poor body and the climate better than his more

260 Movements on the Upper River

fervent spirit suits its environment. If he could only get
help, it would do him more good than medicine. I feel
it to be quite true, as Mrs. Bentley writes in a note just
to hand, that “ men to help us bear our burdens are
more needed than doctors to physic us.” *

To Mr. Fuller, at Cameroons.

Underhill, December 12.

* Do you remember giving me, in the kindness of your
heart, a bottle of ammonia fort, when at Cameroons on
my way down ? I shall never forget it, for it gave me
such a “ doing ” on Saturday when I came to open it, as
both startled myself and those around me out of our
respective wits. The stopper had “jammed,” and as I
was tapping it with a bit of stick, off it went like a
champagne cork, and the “ liquor ” fizzed up in my face,
fetching some of the skin off, baring my lips and the end
of my tongue, and so affecting my throat that I*ve lost
my voice, and have to’ go about with a miserable bit of
a squeak. This is the third day, and I’m much better.
It nearly choked me. I could not get my breath for
several minutes, and was struggling like a drowning
man for some time. My poor wife could not make out
what was the matter, and I could not speak. Naturally
enough, I had fever yesterday. I thank God it is no
worse, for if I had not had specs, on, T might have lost
my sight. So you see I’m not likely to forget your
bottle of ammonia fort*

To Miss Hawkes.

December 12.

4 We got a capital letter from San Salvador yesterday.
They have had a baptismal service, and are full of hope
and enthusiasm. I wonder when we shall be able to

Christmas Greetings 261

chronicle similar good tidings on the upper river. In
His own good time. If we only had enough men to
stop the gaps made by the three last deaths, we could
have another new station before Midsummer. Some
people say, “ Don’t go forward — God is not pleased with
your rushing ahead, and so these deaths occur,” and so
forth. It is strange if God lets men die on the lower
river to show His displeasure with the forward work ! It
is — well, I won’t say what I think it is. Our work at
Lukolela is most encouraging. . . . My temperature is
up to ioi°. I ought to be in bed, so the others say.’

‘ December 13. I feel better this morning, though I
had rather a bad night of it. I’m at work as usual, so
there is no cause to worry.’

To Miss Hawkes.

Christmas Day.

‘ We are six days’ journey on our way to the Pool,
and are now camped by the side of the Kwilu River,
having a quiet day in our tents. Being Christmas Day,
naturally enough we think of the home folk. At such
times as these one’s thoughts don’t take long to reach
the old home country, and also, naturally enough, one
wishes to send greetings all round. You must give our
friends a “ Happy Xmas ” for us, though it will be rather
late by the time the message reaches them. . . . Heneage
Street and the friends there rise up very vividly, and
there are lots we should like to shake hands and ex-
change greetings with. However, though we are far
away from one another we are all near to the Source
whence comes our every blessing, and I’ve no doubt that
as we in our camp on the river-bank think of and pray
for those in the far-off home country, so there are many
there who will think of and pray for us out here.’

262 Movements on the Upper River

At the end of February Grenfell is at Stanley Pool,
busy refitting the steamer, and gladly expectant of the
arrival of Slade, a new recruit. He is also glad in
the prospect of welcoming Miss Silvey and Miss Butcher
by the middle of the year. Writing to Miss Hawkes on
February 27, he hopes to be off to Lukolela in a fort-
night, and notes that Percy Comber will be returning to
England by the mail that bears his letter. He continues —

‘When in Brussels I was thrown very much into
company with Captain Van de Velde. He came out to
Congo to lead a new expedition to the Falls a couple
of months after I left, and, poor fellow, died a few days
after reaching the Pool. Baron von Rorhkirk died at
Nshasha a few days before I arrived, and another officer
of the State died on his way down river a few days later.
So you see it is not only the missionaries who suffer. . . .

‘Jack is very well, and when he turns out on Sunday
with his English-made clothes is very much admired by
his companions, and envied too, especially by poor
Bungudi, whose place he took. Bungudi, Pm afraid,
has not yet forgiven his mother for having kept him
back, and when she was here the other day I fancy she
was sorry her boy had missed the advantages Dikulu
had enjoyed. The girl is quite a different creature from
the one you took down to the docks late one wintry
night last spring, and is really quite sprightly and sharp.
She has rather a big share of [the old Adam cropping up
at times ; but never mind, there are a good many of us
afflicted that way.

‘ This is but a bit of a note, but you’ll rather get it
than nothing at all — so I shan’t keep it back because it
is a mere scrap.

‘Remember us to everybody to whom you know I
owe letters, just to stave off their wrath.’

Progress at Lukolela 263

To Mr. Baynes.

Stanley Pool, April 18, 1888.

‘ The “ Peace ” returned to this place on the 1 3th,
leaving all well up river, and finding all well here. Our
farthest point was Lukolela. I was particularly gratified
by the progress made in the language by our brethren
Richards and Darby. . . . The buildings at their station
are as yet very primitive. Two men cannot do much in
the language and devote a great deal of attention to this
matter in a year and a half. They have made a good-
sized clearing in the forest — about eight acres — and have
put up a substantial store, with clay walls and ceiling, so
as to render it fireproof. The dwelling-house, however,
is comparatively small, and is entirely of grass. It
consists of two bedrooms twelve feet square, and a
common room the same size. . . .

‘ The relationships with the people I found to be most
cordial and satisfactory. . . . On the 23rd I purpose
starting up river again. ... You will be glad to
hear that we were able to leave James Showers at
Bolobo, and that by the time we had returned from
Lukolela he had succeeded in putting up a couple of
small grass houses, and that the ten men left with him
had cleared nearly three acres of scrub in readiness for
our proposed new station.

‘ PI ere at Nshasha, Brown and Silvey are laying the
foundations for future usefulness in diligent study of the
Kiteke language. Nothing much can be done among
the people till their language is fairly mastered. I trust
that our numbers will be so maintained as to allow of
our carrying on the work of the Mission without those
terribly wasteful changes from place to place which have
done so much to prevent several of us from becoming
proficient in any particular dialect. ... I am very hopeful

264 Movements on the Upper River

that the season of our abnormal proportion of losses is
past. That it may not recur is the subject of many
prayers and grave consideration both out here and at
home. The many letters your correspondents send you
with advice as to courses of procedure in the tropics are
very emphatic testimony to the depth of feeling our
losses have evoked. We are very grateful for the
evidence of wide-spread sympathy which these letters
afford, though we are quite unable to follow the often
contradictory advice they contain.

‘ The fact is, we need men of sound sense, who are
able speedily to perceive what is and what is not suitable
to their own special cases. There is no doubt that
quinine taken regularly is an important factor in the
health of many, while it is equally certain that quinine
taken regularly, in some cases (my own, for instance)
produces the results it is taken to prevent. There are
some to whom regular cold bathing is a necessary ; to
others again it is positively harmful. Some would have
fever at once if they left off wool clothes. I should have
it if I wore them. Mr. Saker, too, could not wear
woollen clothing ; Mr. Quintin Thomson wore nothing
else. It is impossible, my dear Mr. Baynes, to lay down
hard and fast lines for modes of procedure in all cases.
We need perspective faculties, capable of recognizing
the idiosyncracies of various constitutions, and a righteous
horror of potent drugs in heavy doses. I am struck with
the uniformly strong advice as to conduct which is
insisted upon by your correspondents respecting health
in the tropics, and also by the comparatively little stress
which is laid upon the matter of medicine. I am at one
with them.

‘ On Sunday last the “ Stanley ” came down river
from Banalya, bringing Mr. Herbert Ward (one of

‘A Crooked old Stick’ 265

Stanley’s officers left at the Aruwimi camp), who had
found his way in a canoe over half the distance to the
Pool. He gave us no definite news of Stanley — says he
had none, excepting such as he gleaned from deserters,
who report scarcity of food, lots of fighting, and Stanley
and one of his officers slightly wounded. This may not
be all the news he has to send. We all sincerely hope
there is no worse, but as he is on his way down country
to St. Paul de Loanda to telegraph to England, you will
have heard long ere you get this. Unless there is news
he does not care to trust to others, I can hardly imagine
it needful for him to undertake such a journey (nearly
2000 miles) to merely report such a bald outline.’

To Miss Hawkes.

April 22.

4 We are all well. The upper river is certainly very
much better than the lower. People say Pm looking
younger than when I arrived, and were it not for my
grey hairs should be passing off for quite a young man.
Oh! those tell-tale grey hairs. By-the-bye, the grey
hairs seem to be multiplying fast. However, I feel as
young as ever. ... I am still alone on the “ Peace.”
Somehow I don’t seem to mind ; in fact, Pm freer when
alone. People might think I am a crooked old stick
to hear me talking of liking to be alone. The fact is,
I have greater liberty in talking to the people. Pm
wretchedly nervous when there are critical whites about.
I get on better with my boys also.

4 1 am hoping to hear by next mail that the “ Down
Grade ” controversy has got into smoother tracks, and
that it is being thrashed out without the bitterness of its
earlier phases. “ All things work together for good ” ;
even this unpromising controversy I believe will be

266 Movements on the Upper River

no exception. The sooner the good becomes apparent
the better for the Baptist Churches ; yes, and for all
Christianity too.1

On May 27 Grenfell writes from Stanley Pool of
another visit to Lukolela, where he found Darby well,
but Richards so ill as to evoke anxiety. He adds some
interesting details of Mission work at Arthington.

‘ Here at the Pool we are glad to be able to report
that we have half a dozen Bateke boys in our school.
The Bateke people we have considered the most difficult
to reach of any that we have had to deal with, so we feel
encouraged at finding the barrier that has barred the
way so long is being gradually broken down. For,
having reached the people so as to get them to send
their children, we are very hopeful that we shall ere long
be able to reach their hearts and consciences. It is
slow, and at times terribly up-hill work. It needs
patience and grace, and wisdom in no small measure
to enable one to do anything in it. What should we
do if we had not the Source of all wisdom and grace
to go to ? As it is, our hearts are confident that in
God’s own good time the harvest will come.1

In his letter to Mr. Baynes of April 18, from which
extracts have been already given, Grenfell wrote at some
length of Mr. Graham Wilmot Brooke, a young man who
had passed up the Congo some months before, intending
to penetrate the Soudan, and to overcome, single-handed,
difficulties which had foiled ‘established organizations,1
and which ‘ Livingstone had not dared to face.1 He
spoke in the highest terms of Mr. Brooke’s abilities and
character, but feared that he, like Bishop Taylor and
others, would find that ‘ the wings of faith were not the
ordained means for crossing continents.1 Two months

Mr. Brooke 267

later, June 23, he writes again of Mr. Brooke, who had
failed to enter the Soudan.

‘ Mr. Brooke has been staying with us during the
past four weeks, and we have enjoyed his company very
much, and I trust have benefited by fellowship with him.
Though but very young (only twenty-two, I think),
he is exceptionally well-informed, and is certainly very
talented. He is intensely zealous, and if his life is
spared,1 I believe will wield no small influence, in what-
ever sphere he may be able to make his own. However,
his ability has not ensured the success of the scheme he
had in view when leaving England a year or so ago.
Nevertheless, it has enabled him to throw off wrong
notions, and arrive at what I feel is a just estimate of
the problem he attempted. If a man is a fool, and does
not know it, there is not much hope of him ; but if a
man makes a mistake, and has the wit to perceive it, and
the grace to acknowledge it, there is good reason to be
sanguine about him. Mr. Brooke has learned many
things during his short Congo experience.

‘You will be glad to hear that since writing you by
last mail I have received from the State the ratification
of the contract made between Captain Hanssens and
myself, in 1884, for -the site at Bolobo.5

In the, same letter Grenfell records the settlement of
difficulties which the State had raised concerning the
site at Bolobo, and makes the following declaration con-
cerning the condition and prospects of the Mission.

‘The shorthandedness of the Upper River staff is
making me downhearted. Here at Arthington, Brown
is almost entirely absorbed with the cares of managing
the station, and I have time for but little else than the
steamer and the other routine duties which devolve upon
1 Mr. Wilmot Brooke died at Lokoja, on the Niger, March 5, 1892.

268 Movements on the Upper River

me. If we are going to be content with one river station,
I certainly do not feel inclined to keep the steamer
running for its sake ; in fact, I sometimes feel inclined
to let her remain high and dry where she is until we can
make such a move forward as will justify the expense
and trouble a steamer involves. This much is very plain
— we are working upon a terribly extravagant scale,
considering the work we are doing. We have organized
elaborate overland and up-river transport, and expend
the greater part of our strength in keeping the machinery
running. The same machinery would serve for the ten
proposed up-river stations. But as for one up-river
station we cannot work with less machinery, you can
easily realize the wasteful conditions under which we
are placed, and you cannot be surprised that there are
not a few of us who are very much dissatisfied at spend-
ing so much strength for so little more than nothing.

‘ If there is any prospect of the original programme
being filled, or even half filled, we will still be glad to do
the drudgery and keep the machine running ; but if the
Society has decided to call the flag back instead of bring-
ing the men up to the flag, the sooner you sound the
recall and begin to reorganize the better. We can’t con-
tinue as we are, it is either advance or retreat ; but if it
is retreat, you must not count upon me. I will be no
party to it, and you will have to do without me.

‘ I might plead with the Churches that for the sake
of our great Head, for the sake of the terribly sin-
stricken “ heart of Africa,” that out of love for and regard
to the memory of our dear Comber, who died just a year
ago, that Tor each and all of these reasons they should
keep their pledges ; but my heart is hot within me, and
I feel I cannot plead. If love and duty and sacred
promises are nothing, nothing that I can say will avail.

269

Another Daughter

‘ In great heaviness of spirit, but in the assurance of
your profound personal sympathy with us, I remain,’ etc.

To Mr. Baynes.

June 28.

‘ As I’ve to send an advice of a bill of exchange since
I despatched my letters, I will take the opportunity for
adding a line or two.

‘You will think that I had a very heavy fit of the
“ blues ” on at the time I closed my letter to you, and be
impatient with me for being so grumpy. Well, the fact
is I felt very downhearted. Richards had just returned
from Lukolela on his way to England, and I felt very
sad at the prospect of Brown, Darby, Silvey, and myself
being left to take care of Arthington, Lukolela, and the
steamer, with no prospect of help from down country,
as it is felt, or was felt when letters left there a few days
ago, that Harrison could not leave Wathen till some new
men came out.’

By the same mail he writes to the Rev. J. J. Fuller,
expressing gladness in his safe arrival in England after
all the anxieties and difficulties connected with the
transfer of the Cameroons Mission to a German Society,
in consequence of the action of the German Government,
and continues :

* I am the father of another daughter who came to
light a fortnight ago. My wife and the little one are
both getting on capitally.

‘ How about your Cameroons Mission History ? 1 Have
you been able to get far through with it ? If you don’t
mind taking a hint from me, accept my advice, and lay
more stress on incidents and the elaborating of interest-
ing details of the country and the work than on mere

1 This work, which Grenfell was to edit, was never finished.

270 Movements on the Upper River

dates. If you will only imagine you are telling Grenfell
yarns about old times, you will make a capital book that
will do a lot of good.’

To Miss Hawkes.

Stanley Pool, July 27.

4 This has been a bad week. We commenced it with
three of our number in bed, and myself the only one
able to get around and look after them, for my wife was
busy looking after our poor little Dorothy, who made the
fourth patient. Baby, unhappily, got no better, and we
had to bury her the day before yesterday. Mamma is
worrying terribly, and making herself bad about it. The
child was wonderfully healthy and vigorous, and every-
body is surprised to hear of her death. Dr. Sims says it
is a case of inflammation of the liver. Of our own other
patients, one, Harrison, has got quite right again. Brown
is getting better fast. The other, Matthews, one of
Bishop Taylor’s men, who has been helping us for the
past three months, is still very seriously ill, and not out
of danger. Till he can be safely left, I can’t go up
river as I intended, but hope that possibly I may be able
to get away next week.

‘Two or three steamers have come down river
during the last fortnight, but do not bring any definite
news of Stanley. We are hoping that ere this you will
have received details of his safety and success, and that
we shall not be long before we get the news. The only
news we get is that Tippoo Tib, when he was sending
his 400 men away with the second part of the expedition
last month, said : “ Do you think I would send my men
after Stanley, if I thought he had not been able to get
through all right ? ”

‘ Till the last spell of sickness set in I have been

6 1 will kill three’

271

busy, with the despatch-box and instruments the friends
at Heneage Street gave me, in getting out a map of the
country between Musuko and Stanley Pool, showing the
journeys and itinerations of the various missionaries. I
hope to get it published, for it will both help the men in
itinerating out here, and tend to awaken interest at home
by showing the field we have available for work. Progress
is slow, but a great number of towns have been visited.

‘ I have also been busy getting the notes of the upper
river into shape. I shall be very glad to have this work
off my hands ; it is troublesome and very wearying, but
it is important, and the sooner it is done the better.

‘ Mr. Arthington has offered us a new steamer, if we
will only work it on the far-away reaches of the Congo
and its tributaries ; but at present it is impossible, for I
am the only man available for the “ Peace ” ; and what
could I do with two steamers on my hands ? I wish the
Churches would wake up and send us men. Only fancy,
we talked years ago of having ten up-river stations,
and as yet we have only one established, and one ready
for occupation, but no one but myself to go to it, and I
have the steamer on my hands.’

To Mrs. Hartland.

Stanley Pool, August 28.

* Our progress here at the Pool is very slow, our
Bateke neighbours are among the most difficult people
to influence that we know. The other Sunday Mr
Brown was remonstrating with the old chief for killing
one of his people, to put in the grave with one who had
died. He got for reply: — “You say it is not good for
me to kill — why then does God kill my people ? and
you say God is good. The next time God kills one, I
will kill three ! ” ’

272 Movements on the Upper River

To Mr. Baynes.

Stanley Pool, September 30.

‘ When I wrote you last I rejoiced that we had passed
a whole year without having lost one from our ranks.
Before that letter could have reached you, you must have
received the sad tidings of the death of our dear brother
Richards at Banana. Our hearts are very, very heavy,
but still our confidence in our Master does not fail us, for
though it is hard to understand, yet we very surely
believe that all things work together for good. We
shall sorely miss our brother Richards. Being one of
our front-rank men, his place will be hard to fill. That
he should have been taken does indeed seem strange,
when we consider how well he stood the earlier portion
of his time, and how well he had equipped himself for
future usefulness.

4 1 purpose starting to-morrow for Bolobo and
Lukolela, and while at the latter place expect to give
effect to the will of our departed brother, a copy of
which I now enclose.

‘ We started up river at once, after the last mail left :
in fact, we were so afraid of being put in quarantine, on
account of smallpox, that we only stayed three days.
We took Mr. Slade with us, and went as far as Lukolela,
where we took a heavy cargo of wood on board for our
new station at Bolobo, and had two long 50-feet beams
lashed alongside and two laden boats in tow.

‘ Coming down river we were overtaken by a tornado
that blew a lot of things overboard and started several
planks in the cabins and awning. Miss Butcher and Miss
Silvey, who were with us, had quite a serious experience ;
in fact, it looked very serious for all of us for a little
while, for the winds blew and the waves beat, and our
anchors drifted till we nearly got into a critical position.

273

Bound for Bang-ala

But God is good — the “ Peace ” seems to have His special
care — and He brought us as safely through this, as He
has done through so many other dangers.

4 Mr. Slade had been unwell, and so came up river
for a change, and I believe he was benefited by the
voyage. I am hoping the way will soon be clear for him
to join us on the river and leave Wathen, where he is
fixed just now. Miss Silvey also has been ill — in fact,
so ill that we had to carry her on board. A few days
made a wonderful change. She is a very merry little
body, and great chums with Mamma.

4 1 expect we shall start up the river again in the
“Peace” on December 18, bound for Bangala. This
will be the longest voyage we have attempted since our
return.’

4 November 30, 1888. — The 44 Stanley” is just down,
with news of Stanley having returned to a point within
a few days of the Falls, and of his having communicated
with Tippoo Tib. It is said no letters have come down
from him. The loads left by the Major Barttelot ex-
pedition are now in Stanley’s hands, on their way to
Emin, with whom Stanley had left his white men, while
he himself came back for the second detachment.

4 This is good news for Central Africa, and is full of
promise for the future. The Congo is more conclusively
than ever the way to the heart of Africa, and I pray that
Christ’s messengers may speedily recognize it, and in no
stinted measure take advantage of it.

4 This is a hurried note per Dutch House courier, who
is being started off after the mails have left, in hope of
reaching Banana in time for the Portuguese steamer.*

In October, Grenfell received telegraphic instructions
to return to England. He could not obey. Here is

274 Movements on the Upper River

given his reply to the official letter which followed the
telegram. It is addressed to Mr. Baynes and dated
Stanley Pool, December 15.

‘Your letter of October 1 came to hand two days
ago, and I thank you very sincerely for the kind interest
in my wellbeing, of which it is the evidence. I am
very much pained by the thought that in disobeying
the call home I may appear to be disrespectful and
rebellious ; but I feel sure that if you were in my place
you would act as I am doing, and put off going home
till the need is more pressing and the time for doing
so more opportune. So far as my health is concerned,
I feel quite justified in prolonging my stay, and
as I believe that my health is the reason for the
urgency of your summons, I shall venture to defer
responding to it, and to rely upon your forgiveness for
doing so.

‘ Under existing circumstances I feel that in delaying
to obey I am doing the right thing, and that the climate
will do me less harm than the worry I should suffer if
I went home now, and left things as they are. If the
“Peace” is not up at Bangala on January 4 with the
thirty-five workpeople due home at that date, we are
liable to penalties for breach of contract. If I leave
as soon as the Bangala trip has been made, the
“ Peace ” will have to be left at the Pool in the care of
brethren who have had no experience with steamers.
No ; my duty is to stay awhile longer ; and when
Silvey and Darby are relieved, and when Harrison is
free to join the “ Peace,” I shall feel that my way is
clear.

‘The good news of speedy reinforcements that you
send is very encouraging. I began to fear lest the
Baptist Missionary Society had determined not to send

Top-Boots and Mosquitoes 275

out further help. May God grant Clark and Gordon,
and those who follow them, healthy bodies, loving hearts,
and fervent souls for the work, and long sustain them to
labour in it !

‘ Thanking you very sincerely for the very kind terms
of your letter, and for all the consideration you display
for me ; and hoping that you will not misconstrue my
failure to comply with its request, I remain,’ etc.

To Miss Hawkes.

Bolobo, February 18, 1889.

‘It is ten p.m. and mosquitoes are buzzing round
furiously. To save my ankles, I’m wearing top-boots
and tucking my trouser-legs inside ; to protect my hands,
I’ve bathed them in dilute carbolic acid, but still the
pests won’t let me alone. All this by way of excusing
myself from writing more than a very short note. I did
not write by last mail, and as an opportunity for sending
off at daylight to-morrow has just offered, I feel I must
not fail to send a line or two — if it is only to tell you that
by last mail we got no letter from you. There is another
mail in at the Pool, and may reach us in a fortnight ; it
will bring the Christmas letters, and one, I trust, with
good news from yourself. Another mail is due in ten
days at Banana, that I hope to meet at Arthington,
whither we propose going in three weeks’ time. We
have been up here nearly a month now, and are begin-
ning to get a bit straight, and to get into regular work.
Miss Silvey and Miss Butcher, who are with us, are
taking school work and visiting the towns daily.

‘ Bolobo is a splendid place for health. If increased
food consumption is any index, then I am much better
than I have been for some time back. The amount of
pudding (rice pudding, let me say) that I stow away

276 Movements on the Upper River

would alarm even my mother, who knew my capacity in
that direction a long while ago.

‘ The people here continue very friendly, and we are
very hopeful about the future. We only regret we are
not able to speak the language better — however, we
are all hard at work at it. One old chief (Gotchaka)
who came to see us yesterday was greatly surprised at
the harmonium. He wanted to know, when he heard
music issue from it, whether or not it was the Nyambi
(God) we had been telling him of. It does not speak
very well for our power of talking (or possibly of his
capacity for understanding), but I was glad to be able to
tell him it was not Nyambi, but something to help us
to praise Him. Such incidents are pegs to hang our
talks upon — our texts, in fact. I wonder when we shall
be able to take a text and give them chapter and
verse ? *

To Mr. Hawkes.

Stanley Pool, March 27.

‘After Slade’s visit to the Pool and journey to Lukolela
I meant to have written, and told you how I was looking
forward to his joining me on the Upper River. But the
poor fellow had died before I found an opportunity to
write, and his death involved my remaining single-
handed, and the continuance of the press of routine work,
which has sadly hampered and oppressed me. Slade
was a splendid fellow, a man of sterling worth and
eminent piety, one of the most spiritually minded men
we have had, and yet withal a really practical common-
sense man. It was indeed a blow to me to learn that he
had been called “home” — the news met me on my return
from Bangala in January last — you must have heard it a
few days later.’

BOLOBO: GRENFELL’S HOUSE AND STORE, AND THE SCHOOL-
CHAPEL, IN 1890.

Photo : G. Grenfell.

[Photo: G. Grenfell,

BOLOBO STATION, UPPER CONGO : Grenfell’s Home for Sixteen Years.

Easter Day

277

To Mr. Thomas Lewis, Birmingham.

Stanley Pool, April 29.

‘Your welcome New Year’s letter reached me the
mail before last, but the photos therein referred to only
came by the last. So, you see, if I am not exactly
answering by return of post, I am next door to doing it.
Thank you, my dear old friend, for your affectionate
greetings ; they come like summer showers on thirsty
land, and refresh my poor dried-up soul. Eh, Tom lad,
it is shrivelling-up sort of work, so much alone, and
surrounded by so much sorrow and sin. One longs for
the old friends and old times, and gets impatient now
and then for the good times that are surely coming.
However, I must not grumble ; God is very good to me,
in allowing me to hold on and see so much accomplished
in His Name. It is surprising, when I count, how few
seniors I have on the coast. I don’t know of one on the
Congo ; I don’t mean in age, but in years of African
service. At Bolobo, on the first Sunday in March, I
held the first Baptismal Service on the Upper Congo, and
on Sunday last I opened the first meeting-house. It is
only a very modest sort of chapel, about twenty-two feet
square, with walls of sun-dried bricks three feet high, and
doorways on each side. Being Easter Day, we had a
talk about the Resurrection, and altogether a very enjoy-
able service ; about seventy natives were present. A
considerable proportion of our congregation found seats
on the walls, for as yet we have only two or three
benches ready.

‘You will remember my little boy JackjDikulu. Poor
fellow, he died on March 16, but died very happy. He
knew the end was near and was not at all afraid. The
baptismal service to which I have referred above was
held a fortnight before Jack died, and he was greatly

278 Movements on the Upper River

troubled that his friend Bungudi was baptised, and
that he himself was not. However, though he was not
admitted into our Church, I feel sure he is safely in the
heavenly fold. When the end came his good friend
Bungudi was with him, as well as some other boys, and
the prayers of the sick lad and his companions will be
long remembered by us all. I wish Canon Taylor could
have been with us. ... Yet folk at home are talking
about the “ cost,” and “ Missions a failure.” Some of us
missionaries are failures — that can’t be gainsaid. But
still I maintain that if Missions are a failure then is
Christ’s death a failure, and woe is me !

‘ 1 intended this to be a good long letter in reply
to yours — I don’t know how many pages — but I find
I must already think of winding up, for our own
courier has already started, and I must make up my
packet of mails, in the hope of getting it down
country by State courier, who leaves a little later than
our own.

‘ You refer to “ broadening out.” There is nothing like
work in the Mission field for widening one’s horizon.
Where I am exactly, I don’t know, any more than a
good many celebrities seem to know where they are.
I know John iii. 16, and that’s good enough holding-
ground for my anchor. When I see the miserable
littleness of some of you Christians, I am as glad to
be away from it all as I am glad to be out of the
interminable Irish question. As you say, “ Christianity
wants more of Christ’s Spirit and less Theology.” So
say I, my dear Tom. Our Christianity is too much a
matter of words, and far too little a matter of works.
One might think that works were of the devil, by the
assiduity with which the great proportion of our Church
members keep clear of them.*

The Dog ‘Ranger’

279

‘Bolobo, July 25. The “ Peace ” started down river
yesterday at noon, Darby and Cameron as well as
Harrison being on board. Cameron goes down to
Wathen, and expects to find his sphere there. Darby is
homeward bound, and takes with him a lot of MS., the
result of persistent labour spent upon the language of
the Bobangi people, among whom he has been labouring
during the past two years or more. He goes home full
of enthusiasm about the work, and hopes to be able
to secure such sympathy at home as will make going
forward a plain thing when he returns. He is greatly
impressed by the opportunities for work here at Bolobo,
and has seen so much of the cruelty of the customs
of the people, and the deep degradation to which
they have sunk, that he is on fire to urge for further
help. . . .

‘ Darby has a fine dog that belonged to poor Captain
Deane up till the time when he was killed while elephant-
hunting near Darby’s station at Lukolela. This dog
“ Ranger,” a big brown retriever, was the cause of much
discussion among the natives, his position zoologically to
their minds being very doubtful. Some said it was a
wild beast from the forest, some said it was a sheep ; but
a sheep does not make a noise that frightens people,
objected others. One man said (referring to my donkey),
“ But that is nothing to the one at Bolobo, he puts out
his tail, and stretches out his neck and says hee-haw,
hee-haw, till you are obliged to put your fingers in your
ears. He is very big, nearly as big as a house, and
Mundele ndombe (James Showers) gets on his back and
says ‘ gee-up,’ and off they go till they are out of sight.”
These people are great mimics, and the way in which
they imitate the dog, the jackass and James’s motion in
riding, is very realistic and comical.*

280 Movements on the Upper River

To Mr. Hawkes.

Bolobo, October 22 and December 24.

‘The railway will work marvellous changes on the
Congo : the old order of things will pass away as if by
magic, and we shall scarcely recognize that we are in the
same country. The changes we have already seen are
realized with great difficulty by new-comers to whom we
may speak of them. One of the latest is the establish-
ment of a post-office at the Pool, the place that cost us
so many struggles to reach less than ten years ago.
More than this, the State delivers all letters at the various
stations along the river, and in consequence of this you
will please address me in future as per the heading of
this letter.

‘ I wish I could report as much improvement in the
people as in the circumstances of the country. In some
places wonderful results have followed the missionaries’
efforts, but compared with the general state of affairs ten
years ago I am afraid the average has been but infini-
tesimally improved. However, we are not downhearted ;
we can see that true progress is being made, and many
things that were done openly a few years ago are now
done in secret. The sense of right and wrong needs a
lot of cultivating, after having been repressed so long :
the people tell us they cannot see the harm of killing
witches, or slaves whom they have bought ; nor can they
see why they should not steal or tell lies, if they manage
to do so without being found out.

1 1 have just finished translating the Ten Command-
ments. “ They are very good,” the people say ; but
none are willing to be fettered by the awkward conditions
involved by accepting them. They would be very glad
if their neighbours accepted them, for they can see the
advantage of living among well-behaved people. They

28i

Going down the Hill

cannot at all see, though, why the Supreme should
trouble about their dealings one with the other, or why
they should be answerable to Him for their wrong-
doings. . . .

‘ Personally, I am in favour of occupying Upoto, the
farther of the two available sites, a point about 400 miles
beyond Lukolela, a much more populous place and a
better position than Lulanga, which is only half the dis-
tance. Another point in favour of Upoto is the fact
that the people there speak the same language as the
inhabitants of the Welle districts, to the north, which
border upon Emin Pasha’s province. At Upoto also we
should be helping to raise the barrier the State is anxious
to form against the advance of the Arabs. Of course it
would only be in an exceedingly small way that we could
contribute to such an end ; still, our influence would be
in the right direction, and that would be something. As
a Mission we have nothing to fear from the Arabs. So
far as I am concerned, I should not mind starting a
station among them at Stanley Falls. It would be hard
work, but not a whit more dangerous than here. . . .

‘ Like myself, you seem to have been impressed by
the fact of getting into the “ forties ” ; it is indeed a period
to pull one up sharp, and make him think. I find I must
relinquish a lot of my intentions, and be content with a
much smaller programme than hitherto I have fancied
myself equal to fill. I find that if I am to do anything
I must concentrate my efforts upon my purpose in life
with a fuller consecration than ever before. I feel that
what I do I must do quickly now. A man over forty
is certainly going down the hill in Africa. . . .

‘ It is Christmas Eve, I’ve had a busy day, and now
I’m sitting in my shirt-sleeves and perspiring “ like any-
thing,” and even if there were no mosquitoes biting one

282 Movements on the Upper River

to the verge of desperation, how is it to be expected of
me to get up a proper Christmas frame of mind ? How-
ever, I am going over the memories of old times, and
am conjuring up the old faces, and wondering what they
look like now, as well as wondering where their owners
are, and what they are doing ; and I find myself wishing
I were among them once more. However, if I am not
with you in body I am in mind, and wish you all the
very sincerest of seasonable greetings. . . .

‘ I forgot to tell you that we have another daughter,
Gertrude, now nearly three months old. We were hoping
for a boy, and this one is big enough to have made a fine
sturdy lad.’

To Mr. Baynes.

Bolobo, September 25.

‘ The good news of coming reinforcements fill us with
hope that we shall soon be able to make another forward
step. In fact, I hope to have the ground cleared and a
small house ready for the coming men before the end of
the year. I say the coming men. I mean Mr. Weeks
and one of the new men, as Mr. Weeks will be released
from Underhill soon after Mr. Lawson Forfeitt’s arrival.1

To Mrs. Hartland.

Stanley Pool, November 20.

‘ I pray very earnestly that the health of our brethren
may be maintained. We have suffered so terribly, and have
been so mysteriously hindered in times gone by, that I
cannot help being anxious. Yet why should I be ? It is
God’s work, not ours, and I am full of hope that brighter
days are in store for the Congo Mission.

4 My wife is here at Nshasha with me. Also our baby
(two months old) Gertrude. We join in very affectionate

The Evils of War

283

regards for you, and hope the winter has dealt kindly
with you. Please remember us very kindly to Mr. Hart-
land, and to Lily and Alice. I ought to write to them.
I do remember my fault this day. As an excuse to
appease them, tell them, what I did not mean to allude
to, IVe had fever and rheumatism during the past month,
and done less than in any other month since my return.
I am happy to say, however, that I am much better,
though if I have another such “ turn ” I shall “ pack up ”
at once. I pray there may be no necessity for a long
while yet/

To Miss Hawkes.

Bolobo, December 24.

‘We are just now in the third week of one of our
never-failing little wars. But although it has lasted so
long, only four or five have been killed ; the wounded,
however, have been very numerous. The difficulty has
arisen about five tusks of ivory found in the river near
our beach some months ago, but which are said to have
been put there by the thief who found them. I have
made one or two attempts to make peace, and succeeded
in reducing the conflict to two of the five villages at first
involved. Although only so few have been killed, the
suffering of the poor women and children has been very
sad to see. We have had lots of them sleeping in our
yard for many nights past. Even on a small scale war
is no little evil for -these poor folk ; it means, as in this
case, burnt houses, destroyed plantations, loss of goods,
and sick and weak being driven from their homes, to
rough it among the stronger fugitives, who are better
able to stem the tide of sorrows war brings in its train.

‘ Many and deep have been the curses that have been
heaped upon the heads of the principals in this matter

284 Movements on the Upper River

both by the poor fugitives, who have sought safety in
flight, and the poor slaves, who form the majority of the
fighting men. Like wars in civilized countries, ours out
here would soon be finished if they were left to those
directly interested in them. These poor slaves who are
doing the fighting have no interest in the ivory, never
have had, and if an indemnity of ten times its value is
extorted, they won’t benefit a single brass rod ; and as
one of them has just said in our yard, in reply to being
called a coward by one of the opposite faction, “Why
should we fight and die for nothing ? ” This is un-
doubtedly the explanation of so much fighting with so
few losses. . . .

‘ I think I told you of my having translated the Ten
Commandments, and sent them down to Underhill, where
we have a press, to be printed there. I am now busy
with the Gospel of Mark, but I find it slow work, if I am
as careful as I ought to be ; and of course in a work like
this it would be inexcusable to hurry, if it means any-
thing but the best possible result. I find it very difficult
to translate many of the ideas which are really of great
importance. For instance, I can find no word for “ for-
giveness,” and it has to be rendered by “ cleansing.”
“ Sanctification ” I have not ventured to grapple with yet.
Of course, at the best, in these early days a translation is
only an approximation to what it ought to be, but if I
can only manage to give the people an idea of the truth,
I shall be very glad.’

To Mrs. Hartland.

Bolobo, Christmas Day.

£ I was very glad to learn from your letter that you
had been able to go to hear Mr. Meyer and Mr. Hender-
son. It is almost as much a novelty for you to hear a

285

A Coign of Vantage

sermon as myself, and now the winter is upon you again
it will be some time before you have another opportunity.

I can well understand the pleasure it must be for you to
attend a service. Going to a service is far from the least
of the pleasures of a missionary’s homegoing. I would
not mind a good long Congo tramp, if I could only hear
Mr. Meyer or Mr. Henderson at the end of it.’

To Dr. Underhill.

S.S. ‘Peace,’ near Lukolela, February 25, 1890.

‘We are just returning from our long-projected
journey to Upoto, in search of a site ror a new station.
Upoto is a point on the north bank of the river, about
1000 miles north-east from Banana. I am very glad to
report the way is quite clear for our settling at Upoto, as
soon as the men are ready to go forward. The materials
for a small frame house, and some eighty loads of stores
are already on the spot. The people are so anxious
for us to build among them that they have sent one of
their men with us, to make sure of our going back. It is
a grand position, plenty of people and a magnificent site
— a splendid coign of vantage for future forward work.
May our Lord and Master soon make our way plain for
us to occupy it.’

On the journey referred to in the foregoing letter
Grenfell was accompanied by Mr. Lawson Forfeitt, who
wrote home a long and interesting letter, descriptive of
his up-river experiences. I append the passage concerning
Upoto : —

‘ Between Lukolela and Upoto the banks of the river
are, for the most part, low, and, together with the
numerous islands, are covered with dense forests. At
Upoto the hill country begins again, similar to that

286 Movements on the Upper River

between Stanley Pool and Bolobo, affording a healthy
situation for a Mission station, and the district is densely
populated by tribes the furthest removed from civiliza-
tion of any I have yet seen.

‘ The houses or huts are wretchedly poor and mean,
and by far the greater part of the inhabitants go about
without even the smallest strip of cloth upon them, or
covering of any kind. Those living on the river-bank are
not cannibals, but we heard of a woman recently killed
by these very people over a witch palaver, whose body
was sold to a tribe less than half an hour inland, to be
eaten, part of the price paid for it being two live children.
This is only a specimen of their horrible transactions.

‘ Hundreds of people crowded the beach as the
steamer approached, while many others were so
frightened that they ran away. When at Bangala we
were asked by five men to take them to their country,
Upoto, and we took them on board. We thought it
likely that our having shown them this kindness would
prove helpful to the object we had in view ; and in this
we were not mistaken. When we had explained as well
as we could the purpose of our visit, the chief readily
consented to allow us to select a site for a station, and
when we left he forced into our boat a fine goat, which
he wished us to accept as a kind of pledge that we would
be sure to return and build.

‘ Of course the people could but dimly understand
the reason of our coming amongst them, but we made it
clear to them, that we were not traders , and for such an
“ open door ” for preaching the Gospel we ought to be
devoutly thankful. The brethren who go to establish this
new station will have peculiar difficulties, and I am sure that
special prayer for them will be offered by friends at home/

In a letter to Mr. Baynes, dated Bolobo, March 25,

The Ten Commandments 287

Grenfell explains delay in the matter of founding the
new station at Upoto, and reports progress in the making
of the slip at Bolobo, which is sufficiently advanced to
admit of the “ Peace ” being drawn up for painting and
repairs. The natives, who knew nothing of pulleys,
believed that it would be impossible to get the “ Peace ”
out of the water, and were amazed to see her climb the
incline. While she was being dragged up a slave was
being killed close by. The apology for this crime is
that some must be killed to keep the rest in order.

Apropos of this slave- killing, Grenfell delivered a
very pointed discourse on the Ten Commandments. His
audience were silent about ‘ Thou shalt not kill/ but
enthusiastic about Sabbath-keeping, and desired forth-
with that a law should be made giving them a rest day,
like the white man. Already they rest from their labours
every fourth day, but the extra rest would be quite to
their mind.

To Mr. Baynes.

Lukolela, May 5.

‘ I hoped to have been able to write you more fully
than I can do now, before leaving Bolobo, but for one
reason or another the time for starting for Upoto came,
and your letter was still unwritten. However, I am now
able to report William Forfeitt and Oram thus far safely
on their journey to their new station, and full of eager
anticipations to enter upon their labours there. I hope
to be back again at Bolobo by the end of next month/

Respecting some photographs enclosed, he remarks :
‘ No. 5, the dancing group, will hardly do for the pages of
the Missionary Herald. I suppose it would be too shocking,
and yet it is respectability and decency itself compared
with the reality of the greater part of our surroundings/

288 Movements on the Upper River

To Mr. Baynes.

Bolobo, June 23.

* I have just received a note from Bentley, telling me
of your safe return, but that you were so indisposed as
not to be able to take any considerable part in the May
meetings. We sincerely trust you are quite recovered
again. We continue to pray for you, as we have done
during your absence in India, that God may continue to
bless and sustain you in the work which, humanly
speaking, owes so much to you.

‘ On the Upper Congo we still enjoy God’s very
manifest blessing in the matter of health, and if it is
only maintained we anticipate that we shall be able to
open a second station during 1890. The present mail
will bring you word from Oram and Forfeitt of their
having commenced at Upoto. They do so under most
favourable auspices. Our station is in the centre of a very
large population, settled for some eight or ten miles along
the bank of the river, and having communication with in-
land tribes of unknown, but presumably great importance.

‘ The people belong to a fine race physically ; morally
we cannot say much in their favour, excepting perhaps
that they are not quite so bad as some of their
neighbours. Their disposition towards us is very en-
couraging, and our brethren are full of hope. May the
Lord very graciously sustain them at this our farthest
outpost — a thousand miles from the sea ! ’

To Mr. Baynes.

Bolobo, August 22.

‘ The “ Peace ” is expected to make a journey to
Upoto, conveying stores, at the close of the year, and, if
all goes well, I may continue my voyage as far as the

ARRIVAL OF THE REVS. F. R. ORAM AND WM. FORFEITT AT
BOPOTO, TO FOUND NEW STATION, 1890.

Photo : Rev. Wni. Forfeitt.

A SCHOOL FEAST BOPOTO, UPPER CONGO.
Photo: Rev, W, Forfeitt.

Proposed Pioneering 289

Aruwimi is navigable, and prepare a report as to the
practicability of the suggestion to move towards the Albert
Nyanza, an item that has always figured in Mr.
Arlington's programme.

‘ If I consulted my personal ease, I should not
entertain the question of moving farther afield, but
possibly my experience in pioneering can be turned to
account in still further widening the sphere of the Congo
Mission. If the opportunity offers, I shall take it as the
Lord’s call, and do my best.'

Appended is Mr. Arlington's letter, to which Grenfell
sent a reply, the purport of which is indicated in the fore-
going paragraphs.

Leeds, July 1, 1890.

‘My dear Sir,

‘ Excuse pencil ; I can write better with it. I
am much concerned and interested about a new phase
of things which has arisen since Stanley completed his
mission and come home to England. I see that the
Aruwimi or Ituri flows from a point near to the south
end of Lake Albert. I think that the time has come
when you, or some one quite competent — but I should
much prefer you — should sail in the “ Peace ” as far as is
safe up the Aruwimi, and then, by smaller vessel, boat
or native craft, go as far up the stream towards Lake
Albert as it may be navigable. I seem to forget to
what language the speech used on the Aruwimi is refer-
able, and how far up stream that tongue prevails, but I
think it was found to be closely allied to a language well
known to the Baptist Missionary Society. In my opinion
we should now ascertain the full and exact (as nearly
as well may be) extent of this, and also what speech

290 Movements on the Upper River

prevails on the upper and head quarters of the Aruwimi
towards the Albert Lake.

‘ If you have faith to do this, with the blessed vigour
of holy hope in God, I should be exceedingly rejoiced to
hear from you to say so.

‘ Wishing you best and blessed experiences,

‘ Yours in the Lord,

'Robert Arthington.’

Grenfell’s hope that a second forward station would
be founded in 1890 was realized by Messrs. Weeks and
Stapleton, who left Bolobo in the ‘Peace’ on July II,
discovered an available site at Monsembe, and commenced
building and missionary operations forthwith.

Early in September Grenfell left Bolobo, and passed
down river, not to return until he had visited England,
under conditions which will be described in the following
chapter.

CHAPTER XIII

THE SEIZURE OF THE * PEACE/ AND
THE COMING OF THE ‘GOODWILL'

Seizure of the ‘Peace’— Mr. White’s Letter— Letters of Grenfell
upon the Seizure — Firmness of Mr. Forfeitt— Building of the
* Goodwill ’—Death of Mrs. P. Comber— Visit of the King of the
Belgians to England— Grenfell’s Review of the Work — Progress
of the Arabs — Receives a Belgian Order — Bolobo Towns
Burnt— Launch of the ‘ Goodwill.’

IN March, 1890, the State authorities sought to
impose certain conditions and restrictions con-
cerning the use of steamers on the Upper Congo, and
wrote requesting Grenfell to apply for a licence to run
the ‘Peace.’ He replied that as the ‘Peace’ was a
British registered vessel, and the Congo an international
waterway, according to the Act of Berlin, he must refer
the question to the Committee of the Baptist Missionary
Society in London. He did so, and in the event no
application was made for permission to run the ‘ Peace 5
on the Congo.

Some months later the ‘ Peace 9 was seized by the
Congo State Government, for the purpose of carrying
guns and soldiers up the Kasai on a war expedition.

Grenfell records that ‘At 2 p.m. on Sunday, August
31, a small steamer, with two State officers and twelve
soldiers, arrived at the beach of the Arthington Station,
Stanley Pool, and ran alongside the “ Peace.” The

292 The Seizure of the ‘Peace’

officer in command asked Messrs. White and Roger if
they were prepared to hand the “Peace” over to the
State for the transport of soldiers and ammunition up
the Kasai, and explained that in case of non-compliance
he had brought a captain and soldiers to take her.’

Mr. White proceeded to state that, in pursuance of
previous negotiations, he had brought a letter from
Mr. Grenfell, offering to take a full cargo up river, on
condition that it did not consist of munitions of war.

This did not satisfy the officials. Subsequently it
was arranged that the * Peace ’ should start at once for
Bolobo, for the purpose of taking supplies and going
into dock ; also, that she should without fail be back
again at the Pool by September 15. To secure the
observance of this promise, Captain Martini was put
on board, with power to immediately Seize the steamer
in the name of the State, should he deem it needful to
do so.

On the evening of September 14, the ‘Peace’ was
back again at the Pool, bringing Grenfell, who was
determined, if possible, to prevent the threatened seizure.

Upon arrival at Stanley Pool, Grenfell wrote to the
Commissaire, expressing the hope that as the ‘ Ville de
Bruxelles ’ was now at Leopoldville, the ‘ Peace ’ would
not be taken. He repeated the offer to carry ordinary
stores for the State, making two journeys, if necessary,
on condition that between the trips one journey should
be made for the Mission. He again affirmed that he had
no power to lend the ‘ Peace ’ for war purposes.

Concluding his record, Grenfell writes —

‘The same afternoon (September 15, when an official
and formal requisition was handed to him by the State)
the “Peace” steamed up river to Arthington Station
(from Leopoldville), and put me on shore there, and

293

Flag hauled Down

immediately afterwards a steward boy was sent to haul
down the British flag, which till then had occupied the
place of honour, and the act of seizure was complete.’

Thereupon Grenfell sent a messenger post haste down
country to Underhill, asking Mr. Lawson Forfeitt, the
legal representative of the Mission, to send the following
cablegram to England —

‘ “ Peace ” seized. Flag hauled down. Grenfell
coming.’

He had left Bolobo on September 13, prepared to
proceed to England at once, should the State carry out
the threat of seizing the steamer when she returned to
the Pool.

Accompanied by Mr. Lawson Forfeitt, who had joined
him at Underhill, he passed down river, to interview the
Governor at Boma. Writing to Mr. Baynes from Banana,
on October 28, while waiting for a steamer to Europe, he
said, ‘ As Lawson Forfeitt and I were on our way down
to this place, we called on the Governor General at Boma,
and receiving an invitation to dinner, spent a very
pleasant evening. He was very agreeable, but scarcely
succeeded in throwing the onus of the seizure of the
“ Peace ” on the Pool authorities.’

On September 16, Mr. White wrote to Mr. Baynes :
* The poor “ Peace ” is in the hands of alien masters. . . .
It was a great shock to Mr. Grenfell, the news we
brought him to Bolobo that Sunday morning of the
impending fate of our fine little craft. You know his
fond, fatherlike affection for the “ Peace,” and how faith-
fully he has kept the charge you entrusted with him in
our pioneer boat. I think it will never be told, to be
understood by you at home, how much of his strong life’s
best energy our beloved and everywhere respected fellow-
worker has bound up in this his pet and pride. “ They

294 The Seizure of the ‘ Peace ’

are” he said, “ taking my heart’s blood in taking the
‘ Peace/ The best thing that could happen to the poor
* Peace/ would be for her to run on a rock, and sink.
She will be no more the old ‘ Peace/ when they have done
with her. White, the soul has gone out of her ! ”

f That a man should express such feeling over the fate
of a mere machine may appear strange to folks at home.
But we on the Upper Congo know full well that the very
life of our work is wrapped up in the life of our little
steamer, still the pride of the Upper Congo fleet. And
now the " Peace ” is to carry the terrible maxim gun at
her bow, its nozzle over the brazen letters PEACE !
A good thing the poor natives of the Kasai can’t read
those letters. . . . Within five minutes of my telling Mr.
Grenfell the melancholy news of the “ Peace ” being re-
quisitioned, he had made up his mind to this : “ If they
seize the ‘ Peace/ I go to England and agitate.” ’

He continues : ‘ I am making the journey in a
comical capacity, for which it would be rather hard to
find a name. I go simply because certain of our crew
are requisitioned with the steamer. I must admit also
a certain reluctance to leave the good old “Peace.”
Who could help having a certain affection for a boat
like this ? My great aim is to try and keep something
of the pure soul of the “ Peace ” from annihilation. I
have, as employer or master of our boys for the time
being, a grave responsibility towards them, and I clearly
saw it was my duty to stay with them, so I have got
myself reckoned amongst the “ equipage ” of the
“ Peace,” but without a job ! I shall find employment,
however, in making notes, and may be useful to the
steamer in saving her from ill-usage, and in having an
undefined moral charge over our boys. Mr. Grenfell
was anxious about Francis Steane (a Cameroons youth),

1. NATIVE OF YAKUSU DISTRICT. PILOT OF THE S.S. * PEACE.’

2. CHIEF OF YAKUSU AND WIFE.

3. NATIVE OF BOPOTO.

■

Protest to the Governor 295

our apprentice engineer. My staying on board has
relieved his anxiety in part. . . . May I ask your prayers
that our boys may be kept from being contaminated by
the evil influences which will meet them on this journey ?
This is my only anxiety at the present moment. It will
be a grief indeed if evil blast the fair promise that
has been growing more and more distinct as I have
watched for signs these few months. I shall try to
send Mr. Grenfell an account of how we fare and what
we see.’

While Grenfell was waiting for a steamer the Governor
visited Banana, and on October 21, Grenfell had a further
interview with him, and also wrote a formal protest
against the seizure of the ‘Peace,’ which he said was
‘ a duly accredited British vessel, and thus sailed under
the flag of a friendly Power.’ He also complained that
‘ the flag was hauled down by one of the stewards, at the
instance of the officer placed in command ’ ; and added,

‘ How far these actions are in accord with international
usage I cannot say ; but considering that at the time
the “Peace” left Leopoldville upon the mission for
which she was requisitioned, the three most powerful
vessels possessed by the State, furnishing four-fifths of
the whole of its carrying resources, were lying at the
wharf, it is difficult to recognize the necessity of the
step, and in the name of our Society, I beg, most
respectfully, to be allowed to enter my protest.’

On the next day, October 22, Grenfell wrote the
following note to Lawson Forfeitt : ‘ The Governor says
that it was in error that the British flag was hauled
down on board the “Peace” without any formalities.
He writes me that he has given orders for the flag to be
hoisted on the return of the “ Peace,” and for it to be
saluted by the State flag, and a troop of soldiers. The

296 The Seizure of the ‘ Peace ’

“ Cabo Verde ” came in yesterday at one o’clock. We
sail at nine this morning, all being well.

‘ Once more adieu ! ’

The cablegram to Mr. Baynes announcing the seizure
of the ‘ Peace ’ reached the Mission House on October 31,
and on the same day he telegraphed to Brussels, to
the Administrator General of the Congo State, for
information. Receiving no reply, he wrote asking an
explanation.

On November 2, the Administrator General tele-
graphed : ‘ We have no intelligence concerning the
seizure of your steamer, and the carrying away of its
flag ; ’ but he thought it might have been demanded in
view of some most imperious necessity for supplies. He
had telegraphed to Congo to restore the steamer as soon
as humanly possible, and offered to compensate for all
losses.

The seizure of the Mission steamer caused excite-
ment in England and on the Continent. Dutch papers
related the facts, obtained, no doubt, through the agent
of the Dutch Trading Company on the Congo. In
reference to the statements in the Dutch press, a tele-
gram was despatched from Brussels by Reuter to the
British press, declaring that no steamer had been seized,
nor had any flag been hauled down ; that the services of
the t Peace ’ were temporarily requisitioned for urgent
public purposes, and that an indemnity had been paid.
It also declared that the affair was amicably arranged
with the missionaries.

Seeing that Grenfell had protested strongly against
the action of the State, and that he was then on
his way to England, Reuter’s Brussels telegram was
not according to the facts, and was altogether mis-
leading.

The ‘Peace’ Palaver Drags 297

Grenfell reached England in December, and imme-
diately laid before the Missionary Committee a
complete statement of the case.

Writing to Lawson Forfeitt from Sancreed, on
December 27, where he had gone to spend Christmas,
Grenfell says : ‘ The “ Peace ” palaver still drags on its
weary length. The State are very slow to reply. They
realize the delicacy of the position, we think, and are
cautious. Highest legal opinion reports State action as
ultra vires. We shall come out of it all right, and
with definite provisions for the future, I believe.’

He adds : * It has been terribly cold since my arrival.
I’ve scarcely been anywhere or seen any one. I’m down
here for Xmas. Happily, it is a little warmer than in
London, where they are enduring the hardest winter
they have had for years. Lots of fog, frost and snow.
Also skating. I’m much better than when I landed. I
trust you are keeping well.’

Grenfell wrote to White in January, 1891 : ‘ Brussels,
I fancy, very much wishes the “ Peace ” had never been
touched — the long, tedious correspondence still drags on?
the latest phase being a straight request for a promise
not to do it again. The amount of shuffling and squirm-
ing on the part of Brussels would be quite amusing, if
it were not so vexatious.’

Meanwhile important correspondence was proceed-
ing between the Vice-Governor and the Rev. Lawson
Forfeitt, the Secretary of the Mission on the Congo.

Mr. Forfeitt at this time was a very young man, and
a newcomer to the Congo. Apparently the Governor
imagined that it would be quite easy to rush him into
the acceptance of an indemnity, which would have dis-
concerted Grenfell’s plans, and permitted a cable to
Brussels declaring the incident closed. But he had

29B The Seizure of the ‘ Peace ’

under-estimated the mettle of the young secretary, who
countered his masterful approaches with diplomatic skill
which has often proved of greatest value to the Mission.

On December 21, 1890, the Vice-Governor wrote to
Mr. Forfeitt, saying that the ‘ Peace ’ had been returned
to the Mission, and the British flag hoisted again, with
all due military honours. He expressed his desire for
a friendly settlement of the affair of the steamer, and
offered an indemnity of 3500 francs (^140).

Mr. Forfeitt acknowledged this letter, and expressed
satisfaction that the British flag had been formally rein-
stated on the * Peace ’ and saluted with due honour. As
to the offer of an indemnity, he promised to forward it
at once to the Committee of the Baptist Missionary
Society in London for instructions.

On January 17, 1891, the Vice-Governor and Mr.
Forfeitt were both at Banana. The former wrote a
further letter on the subject of an indemnity, as he
desired to close the matter without delay. If the
amount was regarded as insufficient, he would be glad
to consider any proposal from Mr. Forfeitt. Otherwise
the matter must forthwith be referred to the Courts for
decision, under Art. 15 of the decree of July, 1890, on
military requisitions. He did not admit that such a
question could be referred to a Committee of Foreigners,
Le. the Baptist Missionary Society Committee in London.

On the same day Mr. Forfeitt replied to the Vice-
Governor’s letter, saying he regretted to be unable to
comply with the request of the Vice-Governor, and that
his personal feeling was that the Baptist Missionary
Society Committee would decline to accept an indemnity
in the circumstances. He reminded him that the steamer
was employed for a purpose entirely contrary to the
principles of the Mission, and also that our missionaries

Climbing’ Down 299

at the more distant stations on the Upper River had
been placed in great danger through lack of supplies.

At this point the Vice-Governor began to climb
down, replying that he found, after all, that when the
steamer was taken, the date for putting into operation
the decree of July 1 6, 1890, had not yet arrived, and
that therefore the case under review might exceptionally
be referred for consideration by the London Committee
of the Baptist Missionary Society. At the same time
he expressed regret, if any missionaries had really been
subjected to privations, and said that if they had only
applied to the nearest State station, it would have been
happy to offer assistance.

In the course of his letter the Vice-Governor took
occasion to remark that it was necessary for all such
Societies as the Baptist Missionary Society to obey the
law ( i.e . to accept an indemnity without delay).

In answer to this, Mr. Forfeitt maintained that, the
incident having already become the subject of com-
munications between the Baptist Missionary Society
Committee in London, and the Central Government in
Brussels, no objection could properly be taken to the
course he had adopted.

To the Vice-Governor’s slightly scornful reference
to the possible privations of the missionaries, and the
simple means by which they might have been avoided,
Mr. Forfeitt was able to make rejoinder as caustic as it
was conclusive. He thanked the Vice-Governor for his
kind thought, and suggestion that the missionaries at
Upoto should apply to the nearest State station for
provisions, but feared they could not be very hopeful of
success, seeing that the State officers themselves had
quite recently applied to the missionaries for pro-
visions, which the latter had readily given, depending

300 The Seizure of the ‘ Peace ’

upon the * Peace 5 for fresh supplies by a certain date,
which the seizure of the vessel by the State had
rendered impossible.

For his share in the business Mr. Forfeitt received
the formal and cordial thanks of the Committee, and
the affectionate and enthusiastic congratulations of
Grenfell, who was delighted by the success of his young
colleague, with whom he had already formed a close
friendship, which was maintained until the end of
his life.

In the end, the indemnity was not accepted, satis-
factory assurances were given by the State, and there
was no repetition of the trouble.

While the ‘Peace’ palaver was still dragging on,
Grenfell’s mind was much occupied by arrangements
for the building of a new steamer, which the seizure of
the ‘ Peace,’ and the growth of the Mission had rendered
necessary on the upper river. The Committee realized
that to depend upon one steamer, several years old,
which would shortly require serious repairs, would be
to run inexcusable risks. After due consideration it
was determined that the new ship, the ‘Goodwill,’
should be of the same type as the ‘ Peace,’ but larger,
swifter, and with many minor improvements. The
contract for her construction was entrusted to Messrs.
Thorneycroft, who had done so admirably in the
building of the ‘ Peace ’ ; and again Grenfell was happily
upon the spot, to render invaluable advice and direction,
based upon his unique experience. He superintended
the building of the ‘ Goodwill,’ he was present at her
launch upon the Thames, he helped to despatch her, in
loads, up country from Underhill, and in the event he
did large part of her re-construction at Bolobo. But

3° i

Captain Thys

though the ‘ Goodwill 5 was beyond question the
superior craft, to the day of his death Grenfell loved the
‘ Peace * best.

He spent Christmas, 1890, at Sancreed. In the
middle of January he was in London. News came of
Mrs. Percy Comber’s serious illness, which depressed
him. The weather was not to be endured ; and after
two days of it, ‘ down-hearted and miserable/ he started
off* to his brother’s at Sutton Coldfield.

On January 29 he is in Bristol, has received tidings
of the death of Mrs. Comber, and writes to Lawson
Forfeitt : ‘ The sad news by last mail has cast a gloom
over me that I cannot shake off. It did not reach me
till several days after I had your letter, telling of Percy
and his wife being homeward-bound. Poor Percy!
Many hearts have followed him on his lonely tramp
back to Wathen, and many, many prayers have ascended
on his behalf. The new steamer for the Congo is still
“ in the air,” though I feel pretty certain the Committee
will act next month, and give me the authority to close
with one or other of the offers now before us.’

Grenfell had voyaged to Europe by the same
steamer as Captain Thys, the Chief Director of Congo
Railway Company, and he writes, ‘You ask, “ How do
you like Thys ? ” I reply that I think him a wonder-
fully capable man, and that I feel drawn towards him.
There is a great deal of the Briton (I take it) in his
character. He has a very difficult part to play, and I
sympathize very sincerely with him. I don’t by any
means endorse all his views, but there are very few men
whose views I consider so enlightened. If we had a
few more men like him, it would be all the better for
the Congo. . . .

‘ I am not very bright, am wretchedly thin (for me),

302 The Seizure of the ‘ Peace ’

and not making so much progress as I would like. How-
ever, I have no fever, and have much to be thankful for.
I’m doing no speaking yet — don’t commence till April. . . .

* I hope, my dear Lawson, you are well. The good
Lord long keep you so.’

On February 9, he writes from 19 Furnival Street to
Mr. Joseph Hawkes, of Birmingham,1 re the proposed
new steamer —

‘ The Finance Committee meets on Thursday, and I
bring before them the data I have been collecting con-
cerning the proposed new steamer. I hope it will be
settled without a lot of wearying delay. A new steamer
means quite worry enough for me without having a lot
of " red tape ” to contend with. . . .

‘ I am fancying that I feel much better, and hope soon
to get into harness. Nothing will be more pleasant for
me than to talk to your friends about the Congo, if I
only feel equal to it — but I must not make promises yet.’

Again he writes to Mr. Hawkes from London, on
February 26, saying the Congo mail brings ‘ good news
from all along the line ; ’ and adds : ‘ We have some
little anxiety about a warlike expedition having been
sent overland from the Pool, to enforce the recognition
by the natives of the Congo authorities. The State
offered us a guard for our Bolobo Station, but the
missionaries there felt they would be safer without State
protection, and I think so too.

‘ P.S. It is as foggy as ever here.’

To Mr. Baynes.

Worthing, March 11.

‘ I’ve tried to persuade Mrs. B not to tell you

what the doctor said this morning, but she feels she
must, and so I just pen a line or two, to inform you that

3°3

The King’s Return

I’m not very brilliant. I shall (unless something very
remarkable happens) be able to keep my engagement
with Colonel Griffin on Friday evening. You need not
be anxious. I’m taking care. Doctors always like to
magnify their vocation.’

To Mr. Hawkes.

London, March 23.

*1 quite hoped, up till Friday evening last, that I
should have been able to get clear of London before
Easter, but I find I shall not be free to go to Birmingham
till the close of next week. I want to see the steamer fairly
under way before I leave, and also the new map. It is
astonishing what a lot of time these things involve. . . .

‘Yes, indeed! Africa’s charms get more attractive to
me day by day. I fancy the King of the Belgians has
not had a very pleasant visit. He came over, as you will
have learned from the papers, on Congo State business.
The said business, I fear, has not been very successful,
for he packed up in a hurry, and went back a week
earlier than he intended. I fancy that a long article in
Friday’s Times had something to do with it, an article
that originated in a conversation I had with Sir Fowell
Buxton last week. I am to have an interview with Sir
William Mackinnon to-morrow. These things take lots
of time, yet they must be attended to.’

The Society’s report presented to the annual meeting
in April, 1891, incorporates a review of the work upon
the Congo, written by Grenfell. He commences with a
touching reference to the death of Mrs. Percy Comber,
briefly notes the advances that have been made toward
the centre of the continent, and expresses the hope that
Messrs. Darby and White will shortly be founding a new
station near the Lubi Falls.

304 The Seizure of the ‘Peace’

‘ The progress of events seems to indicate that this
will ere long be one of the most important centres of
the continent — it is only fifty hours’ march from the
stations of the Soudanese Arabs on the Welle river, and
is apparently destined to be the point upon which
caravans, with a view to the rapid and safe communica-
tion with the civilized world, will concentrate from
Gordon’s lost provinces.

‘ Having moved, stage by stage, thus far, we are
within striking distance of the object proposed by that
generous friend of Missions, Mr. Robert Arthington,
when he gave our society splendid donations for the
formation of a line of stations along the Aruwimi valley
towards Lake Albert. It is hoped that the time will
speedily come when the funds will be provided, and the
unsettled state of the natives, reported by Mr. Stanley,
will have given place to confidence, and have resulted in
the re-forming of their abandoned towns. With a view
to obtaining information as to the present prospects of
the Aruwimi route, it is proposed that the steamer
“ Peace ” make an early voyage to reconnoitre, so far as
the river may offer facilities for so doing.

‘ But on the Aruwimi and Loika we shall enter upon
a new phase of work, for we shall be in contact with the
East Coast Arabs, who are steadily pushing their way
north-westwards to the country occupied by their co-
religionists of the Soudan ; in fact, their advanced guards
have already met. Islam from the south-east is already
in touch with Islam from the north, and the poor natives
are thus, as it were, between the upper and nether mill-
stones. In entering upon this region Christian Missions
will have to face the fanaticism of partially enlightened
believers in God, as well as the heathenism of ignorant
and demoralized men. But, however arduous the task

A Visit to Brussels

305

may threaten to be, we are full of hope and confidence ;
we have not entered upon the contest at our own charges,
and if we find ourselves on the threshold of great diffi-
culties, they are not of our own seeking ; our trust is in
Him in Whose name we have been sent forth.’

The measure of progress recorded at the several
stations of the Mission is then discussed ; but space-
limits forbid further quotation.

Early in April, Grenfell received from Captain Thys
an invitation to Brussels, to discuss a proposal to estab-
lish a regular service of steamers, at fixed dates, upon
the Upper Congo. The invitation was accepted, and
during his visit Grenfell ‘ had the honour of an interview
with his Majesty the King of the Belgians and Sovereign
of the Congo State. His Majesty, on that occasion,
took the opportunity of conferring upon Mr. Grenfell
the insignia of “ Chevalier of the Order of Leopold,” “ in
recognition of services rendered in opening up the terri-
tory of the Congo State, and of efforts made towards
ameliorating the condition of the peoples subject to his
Majesty’s rule.” ’

At the beginning of May, he was to have addressed
a meeting in Birmingham, but on April 30 he writes
from the house of Mr. W. R. Rickett, the revered and
munificent Treasurer of the Baptist Missionary Society,
reporting himself unwell, and unable to travel. He
has arranged with Mr. Darby to take his place, and
says —

‘The friends in Birmingham will profit by the ex-
change, for Darby is a capital speaker. He is a clever
fellow, and has a wondrous kindly heart. I think you
will enjoy his company : I’m sure the children will, for
he’s full of stories.

‘ I’m better than I was, though I’ve only been out of

3°6 The Seizure of the ‘Peace’

my room twice since Saturday. Friends won’t hear of
my going outside the house for some days yet.

‘ Did I tell you that the whole of the Bolobo towns
have been burned down by the State ? Great distress
among the people.’

As the summer began to wane, Grenfell went down to
Sancreed for a holiday, and on August 13 wrote to Mr.
Baynes —

‘I go to London for the launch of the “ Goodwill ”
on the 2 1st. The steamer will not be quite finished on
that date ; but as the tide suits, the opportunity will be
taken to put her in the water. . . . The time between
the 2 1st inst. and the 8th prox. will be devoted to pre-
liminary trials, and to getting things into “ ship-shape ”
for the view.’

The launch was successful, and at the time appointed
the ‘ Goodwill ’ was on view at Westminster. Numbers
of the friends of the Mission inspected her at her moor-
ings, and many took passage to Chiswick and back, so
making practical acquaintance with the powers of the
little ship, whose fortunes they would follow with prayer-
ful interest, as she justified her name, by bearing the
tidings of the Herald Angels to the warring tribes of
Central Africa.

CHAPTER XIV

THE LUNDA EXPEDITION

Asked to join a Belgian Commission— Financial Arrangements—
Grenfell’s Embarkation — A Terrific Storm — Ministry of * Mamma
Hartland ’— Landing at Matadi— The Start— Tungwa— Stopped
by War— Tenders his Resignation — Work of Steane— Declara-
tion of Peace— Food Supply Difficulties— The Rainy Season—
The Highlands— Swamps— A Plague of Flies— The Small-pox
—The Return Journey— On Livingstone’s Path— At Loanda—
Death of Mrs. Cameron— A Grand Reception.

PON the completion of the arrangements for the

launch of the ‘ Goodwill,’ Grenfell went down to
Sancreed, to spend a holiday with his mother amid
scenes that were dear to him from earliest days. The
weather was piteously wet, and he was busy making
the best of it, when a letter was forwarded to him from
the Mission House, which was destined to affect his life
so seriously for the next two years, that it may well be
reproduced here.

Bruxelles, August 13, 1891.

'Dear Grenfell,

'As you perhaps know, the frontier of the
Lunda ought now to be settled with Portugal, and in
order to do this the Portuguese Lt.-Colonel Sebastiao
de Souza Dantas Baracho is already there.

' Knowing as I do your great knowledge of the

308 The Lunda Expedition

country, and the interest you have always kindly taken
in the prosperity of the Congo, may I reckon upon you
to represent the Congo State in this matter, placing as I
do the greatest confidence in your judgment ?

* I send you this proposal by direction of the King,
who would be very grateful to you.

‘I should be much obliged to you if you kindly would
write me a word about this matter as soon as possible,
for we are in a great hurry.

‘ Of course, if you agree, as I hope, with this Com-
mission you will receive to accomplish it the most
complete requirements, and you will be called to
Brussels for that purpose.

‘ Yours kindly,

‘ Liebrechts.’

Immediately Grenfell wrote to Mr. Haynes as
follows : —

* I have just received the enclosed. In acknow-
ledging its receipt I have said : “I am unable to pro-
nounce upon this proposal, apart from the Committee
of our Society. Personally I should be greatly gratified
if I might accept the honour of the appointment his
Majesty has been good enough to suggest. I am
sending your letter to Mr. Baynes, and am asking him
to telegraph to me, so that I may be able to send a
formal reply by the earliest possible date.”

‘ I understand the proposal as a request for me to act
as a member of a delimitation Commission to fix the
boundaries between the Congo State and the Portuguese
possessions lying between the rivers Kwango and Kasai
— but of this I am not quite sure. The disputed terri-
tory lies between those points, and if the matter is as I
suppose, it would take some three months to go and

Inclined to Go

309

return from San Salvador — which I expect would be the
starting-point. The frontier, after reaching the Kwango,
lies a little south of east of San Salvador.

‘ I think the whole thing might be managed during
the time the “ Goodwill ” is being sent up country, and
without in any way delaying her transport or completion.
It would involve my leaving England somewhat earlier
than I expected, but as I have completed my second
term of rest, as advised by Dr. Roberts, I think it could
be done without prejudice to my health. In fact, if it
were needful, I have no doubt it would be possible to
arrange for a short visit to England before returning
to the Upper River, without expense to the Com-
mittee. It would not mean more than three months*
delay in my reaching Bolobo if I did not return to
England.

‘I shall be very sorry to stay away from Bolobo,
even three months more than is absolutely necessary.
I should much like to see the Lunda country, and the
experience might be useful to us in working eastward
from San Salvador, but I cannot urge that the proposal
has any direct bearing upon our work. I should like to
accept the proposal the King has made, but I want to
do my duty before even pleasing the King. Is it the
Lord showing us a way inland from San Salvador ? I
am in the hands of the Committee.*

Mr. Baynes telegraphed a reply in the following
terms: ‘Must await Committee’s decision on September
14. Cannot undertake to settle the matter myself.
Advise this to Brussels.*

Replying, on August 13, to a letter from Mr. Baynes,
Grenfell reports that he has written to Brussels, in-
timating that no decision can be given until the meeting
of the Committee, and assuming, in view of the urgency

310 The Lunda Expedition

of the affair, that this inevitable delay will rule him out.
He agrees with Mr. Baynes that such a question must
needs be settled 4 on the ground of principle.’ The work
is work which he could do, and would like to do ; but
he would not undertake it unless the Committee decidedly
favoured the project. The impracticable delay, however,
makes such discussion merely academic.

Three days later he forwards to Mr. Baynes another
letter from the Secretary-General, who says : 4 The
Government of the Independent State of the Congo,
knowing how much it may reckon upon you, will wait
for your Committee’s decision, and is very anxious to
hear about it. It hopes you will be allowed to undertake
that commission of peace which the King intends to
offer you. Your Committee, the King hopes, will see
by that offer a right homage paid to the high and best
qualities of one of its missionaries.’

Under date September 2 the Secretary writes again,
enclosing a copy of the agreement between the Congo
Free State and Portugal, upon the basis of which the
proposed delimitation is to be effected, and promising
the supply of all necessary means to accelerate the
accomplishment of the Commission.

Six days later he writes again an autograph letter,
intimating that the questions ‘ principally to be dealt
with in the delimitation of the Lunda are those arising
out of the claims of native chiefs, whose districts lie
between the Kwango and the Kasai.’ He also states
that a Belgian officer, probably Lieutenant Gorin, who
is on the Lower Congo, and 4 knows about taking observa-
tions,’ will be appointed as Grenfell’s colleague. In
forwarding this letter to Mr. Baynes, Grenfell writes :
4 1 wonder if the officer is to act under me, or to be my
superior. The former will be strange, and the latter,

Remuneration 31 1

for me, an impossible condition. I must be absolutely
independent and free, if I go/

The Committee’s assent was given, and duly com-
municated to Brussels. The Secretary-General acknow-
ledged this in a most cordial letter, and invited Grenfell
to proceed to Brussels at the earliest possible moment.

Grenfell wrote to Mr. Baynes from Brussels on
September 25 : * I have seen Mr. Eettvelde, Minister of
the Interior, and satisfactorily arranged all preliminaries
with him. He proposed that I should be the Chief of
the Commission and that the officer, while able to give
his advice, should in all things defer to me. He says
definite instructions will be prepared on these lines. A
bodyguard will be sent, but it is strictly defensive, and
will in no case engage in warlike operations unless to
defend our lives — but this seems to be a very remote
contingency. He looks very favourably upon Mrs.
Grenfell accompanying me — in fact, sees nothing against
it, if it is only agreeable to ourselves.

‘I see the King to-morrow at 11.30 a.m.

‘ I was asked as to my ideas in the matter of
remuneration. I referred them to you — telling them
I had certain expenses in England to meet on account
of my children, and also that I expected to be provided
for comfortably on the journey, and also telling them
that our Committee met these expenses in such a way
as to free me from all anxiety/

On these simple lines the financial matter was
arranged. The Committee thus gave their agent
leave of absence to serve the Congo State, upon
a commission that promised to make for peace and
goodwill among men ; and the State, while using him,
paid his expenses upon the modest scale to which he
had been accustomed. It accorded with the principles

3i2 The Lunda Expedition

of both Grenfell and his Committee that the service
should not be a profit-making business. And in the
end, when the Mission which proved so much more
arduous, perilous and protracted than was anticipated,
had been successfully performed, neither Grenfell nor
his Society was a penny the better for the work.

Of course, this magnanimity was appreciated by the
Free State authorities, who were well pleased to find
that no more was required of them than ‘ to relieve your
Committee of the cost of the maintenance of Mr. Grenfell
during the period occupied by the Mission/

On September 26 Grenfell writes to his friend Mr.
Joseph Hawkes : ‘l have had an hour with the King
to-day, and it is all settled that I am to undertake the
proposed mission. All being well, we leave Antwerp
for the Congo on November 6. I expect the work will
require nearly six months. I shall need your prayers
just as much as ever.*

He reached Antwerp on November 5, and proceeded
immediately to Brussels for final instructions, which
were duly received, signed by the King. He found also
awaiting him an invitation to dine with their Majesties
the King and Queen. Writing to Mr. Baynes from
‘ s.s. “ Akassa,” off Flushing/ the next day, he says, ‘ I
am named “Plenipotentiary/’ to distinguish me from
my Belgian colleague. The King was very gracious,
and alluded very nicely to the disinterestedness of our
Society and myself, referring, I took it, to the fact that
we are not saddling the Congo Government with heavy
expenses ; though of course he did not speak directly of
money matters — a King can hardly do so. We have
had very fine weather, and it still promises well/

Grenfell’s embarkation had been hurried. In a brief
note to Mr. Hawkes, under same date, he writes, < I

A Perilous Voyage 3U

am leaving by steamer sailing at 10 a.m. It is now
8.55, and I have yet two more letters to write, my bag
to pack, and a drive of twenty minutes/ There follows
mention in a sentence or two of his visit to Brussels,
title of ‘ Plenipotentiary/ dinner with the King, and
then this brief characteristic reflection : * Am I not
getting vain in my old age to tell you such tattle, when
time is so short ? * Trivialities dismissed, the letter goes
on to deal with matters of importance, including the
payment of ‘a sum of six shillings or so due for
breakages/

The promise of fair weather mentioned above proved
delusive. The * Akassa/ some few days out, encountered
a terrific storm. 4 For nearly a week we did not change
our clothes, nor were we able to dry our beds, which
had been soaked by the bursting of one of the ports/
The captain became so ill that he was incapacitated,
and had to relinquish his post at Grand Canary,
where the steamer was delayed three days while another
captain was secured. So grave was the case, in the
height of the storm, that the order was given to take to
the boats. But happily that desperate expedient was
averted. ‘ Had it come to taking the boats/ Grenfell
writes, ‘ we should have fared badly, for the biggest life-
boat was stove in, and the rest could not have held half
of us. Once more the Lord has been very good to us,
and for this among His many favours let His name be
praised/

To those who believe in the efficacy of prayer, as
simply and practically as Grenfell did, the following
extract from a letter addressed, two months later, to
‘Mamma Hartland ’ will be of peculiar interest: ‘You
refer to the storm of November 10 and 11. We felt the
full fury of it, and for a time were in a very critical

3 H The Lunda Expedition

condition. ... We felt sure that many prayers were
being offered for us. Our God was with us through it
all, and our hearts were stayed on Him.’

To those acquainted with the facts these sentences
will recall the figure of an elderly lady, living in a
modest home in Kentish Town, whose activities were
restricted by suffering, but whose spiritual influence was
felt all along the line of the Congo Mission. She filled
the void in her heart occasioned by her son’s death by
adopting the Mission in which he died. Toward every
man and woman engaged in it her affections went out
with motherly solicitude, which secured a filial return ;
and in many an hour of storm and stress the tired and
suffering missionary on the Congo has turned with grate-
ful and inspiring remembrance to ‘ Mamma Hartland,’
whose intercession would never fail while life remained,
and who wrote slowly, with pain -distorted fingers, letters
that were fraught with the very comfort of God.

The perilous voyage was finished in safety on
December 8, when Grenfell landed at Matadi, two miles
beyond the depdt station at Underhill. And these last
two miles meant struggle for the steamer. The current,
always strong at that point, was at its strongest, and the
good ship ‘ Akassa ’ was an hour forging past the rush.
Indeed, in one half-hour’s steaming she simply held her
own, and advanced not a single yard.

Grenfell was delighted to receive satisfactory tidings
of the Mission — ‘ everybody reported well or nearly so
all along the line.’ He notes that things are running
smoothly at the Underhill Station, and that though
direct shipment to Matadi will add somewhat to its
burdens, this new arrangement will be a great boon to
the Mission as a whole.

‘Transhipment at Banana is not very expensive, but

The 6 Great Hurry ’

3J5

involves tedious delays, and also considerable loss by
pilfering and damage on board the river craft. Injustice
to the Dutch House, it must be said they make good
any loss that may be pointed out to them at the time of
delivery, but it often occurs that the loss is not dis-
covered till afterwards.* He also reports that the railway
labour question is an increasingly serious one, and that
progress in consequence is very slow. 4 Some 200 Sierra
Leone men tried to force their way on board the
“Akassa,” so that they might return to their own
country. They were repelled by soldiers, but the dis-
satisfaction is by no means at an end.’

When Grenfell was first approached anent the Lunda
Expedition, he was informed that the authorities were
4 in a great hurry.’ The unconscious irony of that state-
ment was now apparent. Arriving at Underhill, keen
to begin the big business, he learned from the Governor-
General that nothing had been heard concerning the
movements of the Portuguese Commissioner, and that
4 as there are no hotels on the Kwango,’ it would be
expedient for Grenfell to remain at Underhill, rather
than hurry off to wait indefinitely in the wilds. So he
begins the long spell of waiting which extends to five
months ; for it is not until May 10 that he and his
colleagues are enabled to start upon their journey, to
meet the Portuguese section of the expedition at the
distant rendezvous.

Weeks elapsed before it was possible to secure direct
communication with the Portuguese Commissioner.
Then it appeared that his delimitation of the Lower
Congo, which was to precede the Lunda task, had not been
commenced. However, he had been apprised by the
Governor of the Portuguese Congo that the rains were
falling in that region 4 with intense furiosity,’ and that

316 The Lunda Expedition

it would not be possible to commence field work there
until the end of April.

At first, and for a while, the delay was not entirely
unwelcome to Grenfell. It enabled him to superintend
the discharge of the ‘ Goodwill/ and to get the loads
ready for the road. It gave him the joy of welcoming
colleagues upon arrival. It secured him leisure to lie
up for three weeks with fever, which indeed he might
have escaped, had he passed on into healthier regions.
On February n, he notes that he has had more fever
during the few weeks of his stay at Underhill than he
had during his last term in Africa.

Many other matters of greater or lesser importance
called for his attention, and secured it. But Bolobo was
upon his heart, and after two months* waiting he went
down to Boma, and requested the Governor-General to
grant him three months’ leave, that he might visit Bolobo,
and return for final instructions. This the Governor-
General could not arrange, and Grenfell, growing restive,
wished to resign the commission and get back to his own
work. On the whole, however, it seemed right that he
should go through with his task ; and he learned, at the
end of March, that the dilatory Portuguese Commissioner
had been relieved of duty, and another appointed, who
was in the field at no great distance from the point at
which the actual work of delimitation would commence.

The following letter must have been written with
a sigh of vast relief.

To Mr. Baynes.

Underhill, April 12, 1892.

‘ I have at last received definite instructions to
proceed with the work of the Lunda Commission, and
all being well we shall leave this place on the 21st inst.

The Start Imminent

317

‘The meeting-place for the joint Commission is
about 550 miles inland, and the date fixed for our
assembling there is July 20. This allows ample time,
and if we only get over the remaining portion of the
journey at the rate of five miles per diem, we ought to
finish it, and be at the State Station of Luebo, in 210
20" E. long, by the end of October, or early in November.
Seeing that steamers run frequently between Luebo and
Stanley Pool, and the voyage down stream is only a
matter of some ten or twelve days, we hope to be back
at Bolobo by the end of the year. Of course, in under-
taking such a journey in Africa, one has to be prepared
for all sorts of eventualities, as well as for delay, but I am
hopeful that with God’s good favour we may get through
both safely and soon.

*' Mr. Ernest Hughes arrived nine days ago ; carriers are
here ready to take him up country, and he is arranging
to start to-morrow. Unless there are developments on
the upper river of which as yet we know nothing, he
will proceed to Monsembe, and get into harness ready
for Stapleton’s home-going. This will give three men
to each of our farthest stations, but gives us no colleague
for Darby when he goes forward to his new station.
Darby is now at Bolobo, and will probably stay there
till I return. I am very glad he is able to be there
while I am away.

‘ Our course to the Kwango lies two days south of
Wathen, but I am hoping to make a detour, and to write
you again from that place.

‘ The whole of the hull of the “ Goodwill ” is now on
its way up country.’

On May 7 Grenfell was still at Underhill, waiting for
carriers. He writes : \Unhappily, the date for com-
mencing the work of the joint Commission has been

3iS The Lunda Expedition

deferred till September ; but the Governor of Angola,
in writing to me, says he hopes that with goodwill, and
‘ a little extra diligence, the delay will be more than
compensated for/

On May io the long-desired start was made. For
the detailed account of this great journey, upon which
Grenfell set out accompanied by Mrs. Grenfell, and his
Belgian colleague ; for the report of his scientific
observations ; for the intensely interesting story of the
hostility of the Kiamvo, Muene Puto Kasongo, ulti-
mately overcome ; and of Grenfell’s reception by the
vanquished tyrant, to whom he preached the Gospel, — I
must refer my readers to the pages of Sir Harry
Johnston. I submit selected passages from letters
written at various points, which may convey some idea
of the arduousness and importance of the task which
Grenfell had undertaken, and of the manner in which it
was accomplished.

To Miss Hawkes.

Ntumba Mani, Congo State, July 8.

‘We managed to get away from Underhill on
May io, and since that time have spent thirty-seven
days in marching ; the rest have been spent at various
points where we have been delayed. We are not at the
farthest point we have reached, for after making five
marches beyond this place we found the way was not
clear, and so returned to this Station of the Congo
State, and expect to remain here some weeks. An
advance party leaves in a few days, and will make its
way to Popocabaca, and, if all goes well, will arrange
for our following as soon as possible.

‘ In our journeying we have taken things as easily as
possible, and with so long a journey before us have not

Blankets and Fires 319

made anything like forced marches, our longest being
seven or eight hours, and shortest not half so long.

‘ We are now on an elevated tableland nearly 3,000
feet above the sea, and have it comparatively cold
morning and evening, the thermometer going down at
times as low as 530. We are consequently very glad of
blankets by night, and wool clothes by day. Camp
fires are quite an institution, and sometimes they are
kept up till well on into the day, if we are staying at a
place.

‘ We are among the people on the border-land of the
cattle and india rubber district ; we were well within
the border when we turned back. The people there are
given up very largely to collecting rubber, and neglect
their plantations, and we thus found it difficult to get
food for our large caravan, for although we could get
beef for ourselves it was impossible to feed our hundred
men or more on beef alone.

‘ On our journey hither we passed very close to
Tungwa, where Comber and I were turned back in
1878. I was sadly tempted to turn aside and pay the
old place a visit. We camped all night in the place where
Comber was shot. The people are very friendly now,
and would be very glad if we would send a teacher.
The whole country between that point and where we are
now is very populous and fruitful, and would make a
splendid field for a Mission. More towards the east the
country becomes very sandy, and is but thinly peopled ;
in fact, one part of our journey is through almost a
desert for about eight days, and I am sending for thirty
loads of “ chop,” to help us in getting through it.

‘ In the sandy country the streams are at the bottoms
of steep valleys of six to eight hundred feet, and a day’s
journey apart. Hereabouts, on the contrary, there is

320 The Lunda Expedition

too much water — yesterday we crossed fifteen streams,
some of them with muddy swampy banks very difficult
for my ass, especially when I am on her back. One
day she sat down in the mud three different times, and
I had to walk through to the other side, and to await
her pleasure to follow me. One day I thought she
would never get through at all, for she sank into it
almost up to her shoulders/

To Mr. Baynes.

Ntumba Mani, July 8.

4 At this point we are 25 marches inland from
Matadi, and still have 12 marches between us and the
Kwango. Of these twelve we covered four, and then,
on account of the war between Muene Puto Kasongo
and the State, having arrived within six hours of the
boundary of the hostile district, and being unable to
secure a native escort, we returned, to await further
developments.

4 Upon reaching our farthest point, and finding
how matters stood, I wrote to the Governor General,
advising him of our being about to return, and also to
this effect : “ Circumstances are so entirely changed from
what they were when I undertook to act on this Com-
mission, that I feel the State will be better served by
my withdrawal from it, and by the appointment of a
military officer in my place. I am hoping, therefore,
that the authority for the delegation of my powers, for
which I believe you have already applied, may soon
arrive, and that I may have your permission to transfer
them to my colleague, or other officer whom you may
indicate.”

4 On my arrival at Lukunga I heard of this war, and
immediately wrote to the Governor General, asking for

Resignation Tendered 321

his instructions, in case we found the way barred ; and
these instructions I found awaiting me on my return
yesterday. They are to the effect that my colleague is
to move forward, and, if needful, force his way, and
arrange with the Commissaire of the district at Popo-
cabaca, for my reaching the rendezvous by the appointed
time. Till the Governor-General has had time to
make the needful arrangements for relieving me, and
so long as the original stipulations are complied with,
I feel I cannot refuse to proceed, even though there
is a probability of the work being prolonged for a
few months beyond the expected time. It would be
a very serious matter for me to withdraw at the present
juncture.

4 Even though the way is so cleared as to allow me
to proceed, the work, on account of the complications
that have arisen, will be far more arduous than I sup-
posed. However, that the work should be done as a
missionary should do it, is perhaps a good reason for my
not forcing the hand of the Governor. Personally, I
would much rather return to Bolobo and to my work ;
but as I have not chosen my present position for myself,
I feel I must not act precipitately, but prayerfully strive
to find where duty leads.

‘I must confess I scarcely expect the Governor-
General will accept my resignation, yet I should be
immensely relieved if he would only do so. He must
consider himself greatly hampered by having at the head
of this Commission a man who refuses to fight his way
to the meeting-place, and my writing as I have done
may suggest a very acceptable way out of an embarrass-
ing situation.

‘ My wife is with me, and joins in sincerest regards.’

322 The Lunda Expedition

To Mr. Joseph Hawkes.

Ntumba Mani, August n.

‘ Still waiting for the horizon to clear ! We have
been living in tents for about three months, and are only
fifteen miles east of Stanley Pool — latitude same as that
of Underhill. We have been five marches to the east-
ward of this point, but, finding further progress barred,
came back, and arranged for the building of a post at
the place whence we retraced our steps. This is now in
course of erection, and when finished will serve as a base
for further operations eastward.

4 If all goes well, we hope to move forward again
in a fortnight or so ; but in Africa “ time does not
count.” It brings its grey hours notwithstanding. Every
possible effort is being made by the Government to
pacify the country, and money is being spent at a great
rate to secure the success of our Mission and an open
route to the frontier. I have asked for a hundred more
porters, so as to hasten matters, more food and more cloth,
and everything is granted at once — yet things go slowly.

‘ It is said that all things come to those who wait —
and if there is one thing I have learned in Africa, it is,
how to “ wait.” “ Most true, my dilatory brother,” you
will say, when you think of my promise to “ write up ”
the slides I left with you, and when you count up the
sixteen sheets I now enclose. Joseph, my dear boy, you
must forgive me, and try to believe it is not altogether
dilatoriness that has prevented me from keeping my
promise. Camp life is full of unconsidered hindrances,
and the business of this Expedition and our Mission are
constant drains upon my time for working and thinking.
I am very glad that as yet I am not cut off from Baptist
Missionary Society correspondence, for, owing to the

Seven Marches Eastward 323

good service of couriers we have to maintain with the
seat of Government, I am within comparatively easy
communication with Underhill and the Mission generally.

‘ The “ Goodwill ” transport, after a long period of
inactivity, I am glad to learn, is marching more satis-
factorily, and the scores of loads that were abandoned
along the route, in consequence of an intertribal fight,
are being got together and gradually delivered at the Pool.
The reports concerning health, and the progress of the
work are encouraging. I therefore thank God, and go on
“ waiting ” and hoping for my return to the upper river/

To Mr. Baynes.

Panga Nlele (50 50' S. lat., 160 20' E. long.), September 6.

1 Since writing you last we have made seven marches
eastward, and are now occupying the new post that has
been formed at this place, and waiting while our loads
are being transported to the Kwango, four or five marches
farther on. Our advance guard has already made a
successful journey to the Kwango, and the second
caravan is now halfway thither. Everything is tranquil,
but progress is very slow. We scarcely expect to move
forward till the end of the month. By that time, if all
goes well, there will be three boats on the river, and we
shall in that case make use of them for the next 200
miles of our journey.

‘ In a recent letter I told you of my having tendered
my resignation to the Governor-General, and asked that
when the authority to delegate my powers should arrive
that he would indicate my successor on the Commission.
As yet I have received no authority to delegate my
powers, but I have received a request from the Governor-
General that I should retain the Commission confided

324 The Lunda Expedition

to me by the King, notwithstanding the unfortunate
delays that have occurred, and carry the work through to
the hoped-for satisfactory conclusion. To this I have
replied, stating that I took upon myself to promise to
serve till the present difficulty on the Kwango was
settled, but that apart from my Committee I could not
promise to await the settlement of future difficulties that
might possibly arise. When this present difficulty is
settled, and everything seems fair for an early and
satisfactory solution, I can scarcely imagine another
serious delay ; and yet in Africa so many things are
possible, and the unexpected so often happens, that I
cannot do more than very sincerely hope that we may
be free to commence the work of delimitation in
November. Once commenced, three or four months of
hard work should complete the task, and leave me free
to get back to Bolobo and my colleagues.

* I am delighted to hear of the splendid Centennial
meetings and to learn of the success of the “ Fund.” It
is very cheering to hear of Dr. Webb coming to the
Congo — may others speedily follow.*

To Miss Hawkes.

Panga Nlele, September 18.

‘ The first of the tornadoes broke on us quite suddenly
three day ago, blew down several of the tents in the
camp, drove the cook out of his extemporized kitchen,
and spoiled our dinner. The dry season is now at an
end, and we shall have all the inconveniences of travelling
in the rains. Happily, we are keeping well-knocking
about agrees with us, apparently.

‘When I wrote you last we were up in the Congo
highlands ; we are now down in the valley of the
Kwango, and in the normal Congo climate. The

A very Hungry Country 325

minimum temperature of yo° is far more agreeable to
my mind, than the 50° we had on the hills.

‘A day or two after our arrival at this place the
natives in the neighbouring villages all ran away into the
forest, and it was not till some three or four days later
that we could so convince them of our kindly intentions
as to induce them to come back. They are, however,
friendly enough now, and are carrying our loads. But
food is still dear ; it costs more here than I have ever
paid before for rationing our men — nearly 6d. a day for
bread-stuffs alone, and that in Africa, and so far from
the coast, is a very serious matter.

‘We are glad to get the news about the children’s
holidays — they were so busy enjoying themselves they
did not write us many particulars. We can well imagine
“ dear Auntie Lizzie ” trotting along in the snow with a
party of four, and the sympathy she would get when she
fell down. We were very sorry you ventured out in such
weather. With your throat and chest so sensitive, it
was no small risk. Fortunately for you, the results were
no worse.’

To the Rev. J. J. Fuller.

Popocabaca, October 24.

■ Our last reports from the upper river speak of the
“ Goodwill ” as being nearly all at the Pool, and of the
prospect of its being at Bolobo during the present
month ; in that case she may be afloat by the time
I return. Bungudi is at Bolobo preparing for the
“ Goodwill.” Francis Steane is with us on this journey,
and as usual is my right-hand man. Just now we are in
a very hungry country, no meat or fish (we have but
very few tins with us), unless we catch it, and Francis is
our great hunter and fisherman. This work is less
dignified, perhaps, but is not less important than his help

326 The Lunda Expedition

with my observations. He gets my instruments ready,
and takes time with the chronometer as I take the
altitudes. Last week he was patching boats damaged
by hippopotamus5 teeth ; to-day he is mending his cast-
net — so you see he has to turn his hand to all sorts of
things. Luckily for me, he has both the ability and the
will to do it/

To Mr. Baynes.

Popocabaca, November 5.

‘After waiting here for a month we have just received
news of the complete submission of the Chief, Muene
Puto Kasongo, and the declaration of peace. The
1200 armed men who attended the Chief manifested the
most lively satisfaction when the rite of blood-brother-
hood sealed the compact, and were evidently very glad
of the prospect of quieter times than they have been
having for the past eight months.

4 After the Arab authority, but not a whit less cruel
or despotic, that of Muene Puto Kasongo was the next
most powerful within the limits of the Congo State ;
and, if the terms of the present peace can only be main-
tained— and I am very sanguine of it — immense benefits
will accrue to the population of an area of some 20,000
square miles, who hitherto have been subject to raids,
systematically arranged at the capital, for the levying of
blackmail and the capture of slaves.

‘ When I wrote you last it was intended that our
Commission should join the expedition to Kasongo
under the Commissaire of the district, but it was after-
wards determined that we should wait at this point till
the way was quite clear. The news to hand enabled us
to send off more than 200 of our loads this morning,
and on the 7th we follow in the three boats, with the
remainder of our men and baggage. We propose to

Near the Rendezvous 327

join the land caravan at a point some 200 miles south,
where the river ceases (practically) to be navigable.

‘ Unless other obstacles interpose we ought, even with
a very moderate rate of progress, to finish the work of
delimitation in February, and be back here in March.
At one time we thought of returning by way of the
Kasai river, but taking into consideration the un-
certainty of meeting a steamer within a reasonable time,
and the difficulty of travelling in canoes at high water,
as it will be when we reach the Kasai, we have deter-
mined to make the return journey by land also — a
programme which, if carried out, will involve a further
eleven or twelve hundred miles.

i I trust, my dear Mr. Baynes, that the month of
April will find us back at Bolobo, and I shall indeed be
glad when the time comes for me to report my arrival
there. You may depend upon my doing my utmost to
avoid the further loss of a single day.’

To Mr. Baynes.

Franz Joseph Falls, Kwango River
(70 35' 50" S. lat.), December 3.

‘ We have just finished our twenty days’ boat journey,
and are encamped close to the Falls preparatory to
moving forward overland. The boats return in a day or
two, and I take the opportunity of writing a note, for it
is somewhat uncertain when we may get another chance.

‘ We are now twenty-five miles north of our meeting-
place with the Portuguese. From the natives we learn the
Commissioners spent some considerable time at Nguri
a Nkama, twenty-five miles south of the rendezvous, but
that they have now retired to Kapenda Camulemba, a
degree farther away. By this time, however, they should
be in receipt, via Boma and Loanda, of the news of our

328 The Lunda Expedition

delay, and of the new appointment we made for a later
date, an appointment that was accepted by the Loan da
authorities. They could hardly do other than accept,
seeing they kept us waiting so long in the early part of
the year. The Commissioners should now be on their
way to the frontier again, and in that case we may
expect to meet them in a few days’ time.

‘ Our land caravan is already at the frontier, having
left us five days ago, and by this time will have
messengers on their way to the Portuguese stations to
the south, telling of our arrival. In a day or two I am
expecting 150 of the carriers here to take us and the
cargo brought in the boats to the frontier.

‘We are over 350 altogether, and feeding so many
has been a very serious task, especially in the desert
country, which extends five days north of this place.
Happily, we on the river have caught plenty of fish, and
have killed two hippopotami, and thus been able to
furnish the land party with “beef.” Wild pineapples,
palm-nuts, etc., have to take the place of “kwanga”
(our breadstuff).

‘ We are in the thick of the rainy season, and every
day brings its downpour. We are having lots of trouble
in drying our soaked belongings in the interval of sun-
shine. These, however, are small matters. We are
nearing the commencement of our work, and Bolobo
looms much more vividly in view.’

Ultimately Grenfell joined forces with the Portuguese
Expedition toward the end of December, ‘at Kasongo
Luamba, to the south of the Tungila/ and proceeded
eastward upon the actual business which had involved
such prolonged and perilous preliminary toils. Yet
severer troubles awaited him, as following letters will
reveal.

The Lunda Highlands 329

To Mr. Joseph Hawkes.

Luchiko River (70 23' S. lat., 20° E. long.), March 12, 1893.

‘ Some of the Portuguese carriers, their loads having
been used up en route , are being sent back to the coast,
and so, by the same occasion, I send you a note, that
you may know we are still pushing our way eastward.
We have, however, been so delayed by hunger and
sickness that our barter goods will not hold out for the
return journey, and therefore, as soon as we have finished
the delimitation, we shall strike for the nearest station
on the Congo waterway, Luebo. To the Kasai, where
the work of the Commission terminates, will involve
some fifteen marches ; thence to Luebo another fifteen,
after that a week or ten days by steamer, to drop down
to Stanley Pool — that is, if we are fortunate enough to
light upon a steamer in reasonable time ; if not, we may
be driven to making our own canoes and paddling them
into port.

‘ Our condition has been such that we have only been
able to make eight marches since the 24th ult. Happily
things are mending with us, and we are hopeful of being
able to make much better progress during the coming
month.

‘We have been in the Lunda highlands, about the
height of Snowdon, for some weeks past, and have just
descended into the valley of Luchiko — a drop of about a
thousand feet. The country is more fertile, and our men
are greatly better for the change. These “ highlands ”
are not like the “ highlands ” of Scotland, rocky and
mountainous, but the very reverse, being wide sandy
plains separated by wide shallow swampy valleys, not
more than fifty or a hundred feet below the general level.

‘ The swamps have been a great trouble to us — one
mile of swamp meaning a couple of hours of wading

33° The Lunda Expedition

through mud and water, sometimes up to one’s waist.
One of the last was one of the worst. We managed to
get across by shortly after noon, but six of the oxen and
the three mules were still three hundred yards from terra
firma when night fell, and torrents of rain also, and they
had to be left till morning. We scarcely expected to find
them all alive. The oxen kept up a very melancholy
lowing all night, and by morning were so weak they
submitted to being lifted out of the mud, and having
their legs tied together, and to being dragged along
bodily over the surface of the swamp. The mules were
literally carried in a kind of hammock slung under their
bodies. One of the oxen had found a sort of island, or
patch of hard ground, and taken possession of it, and
could not be persuaded to move. It came across the
swamp, however, in the shape of beef, to the amenable
condition of which it was reduced by the very emphatic
argument of a rifle bullet. With this exception every-
thing got safely across by I o’clock ; but a day was lost,
for oxen, mules, and men were all too tired to think of
an afternoon march.

'Coming down into the valley here was made
memorable by passing through one of those belts of fly-
country where life becomes almost a burden. Happily,
in a couple of hours we had it behind us, and could
breathe freely and think of something else. The flies
are miserable little black creatures only half the size of
house flies, that go straight for one’s eyes and ears and
nose, and get among the roots of one’s hair. With one
hand brandishing a wisp of grass or bunch of leaves, you
try to keep them clear of your face ; but they come in
such swarms that some of them are sure to get past, and
the other hand is kept busy searching for them in your
ears, your eyes, or among your hair. They are stupid

A WRESTLING MATCH, BOPOTO.
Photo: Rev. Wm. Forfeitt.

[Photo: G. Grenfell.

CROSSING KWILU RIVER, LUNDA EXPEDITION.

Starvation and Smallpox 331

creatures, and don’t take the trouble to get out of the
way, a single pat of one’s hand or blow with the flapper
will sometimes kill as many as twenty. They don’t
seem to mind being killed a bit, and are not at all like
the cute specimens you get in civilized countries. I can
sympathize with the Egyptians — a plague of flies is no
joke;

‘ But, after all, flies and swamps are small matters, as
you will realize one day, when I tell you the story of
this journey. Happily, all has gone well with the
natives, and the work of the Commission progresses, I
trust, satisfactorily. Our poor carriers, however, are
suffering very severely, starvation and smallpox having
killed quite a number of them.

‘ If our work is carried out to a successful issue, it
will be some small recompense ; but I shall be very
slow to undertake a similar commission.

‘ Patience joins me in affectionate greetings to you all.

‘ The fly experience and the swamp episode will do
for the children’s share of this letter. But there is no
moral (as I think I have observed before) to my yarns ;
they won’t mind that, however.’

To Mr. Baynes.

Quilo River (190 40' E. long., 70 45' S. lat.), April 9.

‘Since writing you last all our plans have been
changed, and we are now on our way back by a route
a little to the south of that by which we came.

* Though we failed to reach the Kasai by some
ten marches, we have been able to carry the work of
delimitation to such an issue as we hope will prove a
satisfactory settlement to the Governments concerned.

‘ We have an epidemic of smallpox among oUr men,
and have lost heavily. It is a terrible scourge when one

332 The Lunda Expedition

is well placed for combatting it, but in a big caravan
like ours and en route it is infinitely worse.

‘Our difficulties have been very great, but happily
we have been able to keep clear of fighting. We have
a long and trying march still to make (some seven
hundred miles), and under more trying conditions than
those which obtained when we set out — but God is
good.*

The return journey was perilous and distressful.
Grenfell’s plans were again altered by native wars and
famine. Having sent his Congo carriers and some
sick men northwards along the Kwango to Stanley Pool,
he himself started off with the Belgian and Portuguese
officers for the Kwanza River and St. Paul de Loanda.

One incident related by Mrs. Grenfell will be of
interest to the reader. At a certain point they struck
the track of Livingstone, but could not follow it because
of the hostility of natives. Calling his wife, Grenfell
walked with her up and down, saying, ‘ I did not think
I should ever tread the path Livingstone trod.’

The last reach of the great journey was covered in
comfort by rail, the Portuguese Governor-General
having sent a special train to Dondo, to convey Grenfell
and his party to Loanda.

To Mr. Baynes.

Loanda, June 23.

‘We safely reached this point on the 16th, and hope
to get the final delimitation documents into shape, and
signed, so as to allow of our reaching Boma by the end
of the month.

‘ During our stay here we are the guests of the
Governor-General of Angola. . . .

Reception at Loanda 333

‘ I am rather oppressed by being such a “ dis-
tinguished ” guest, and shall be very glad to get into
the quieter atmosphere of Underhill. Though I suppose
this is very ungrateful of me, considering the kindness
of the Governor and the officials, who are doing every-
thing possible to make us feel at home. . . .

‘On my arrival here the Consul (Mr. Pickersgill,
whom I believe you know) handed me a letter from
Lawson Forfeitt, containing an outline of the present
disposition of our Congo staff, and the news of the death
of Mrs. Cameron. We sympathize very sincerely with
Mr. Cameron, and realize very vividly the great loss
the mission has sustained. . . .’

To Mr. Baynes.

Underhill, July 12.

‘ State affairs will keep me employed till the end
of the month, so you will please draw the allowance the
Brussels authorities make up till the end of July. . . .

‘ The Portuguese gave us a grand reception at
Loanda. We had apartments in the palace of the
Governor, who invited company almost every day to
do us honour. We had a carriage and pair at our
disposal, and when the time came for us to leave,
the Governor himself took us on board a gun-boat in
his state barge, and handed us over to the care of
the Admiral, who in his turn handed us over to the
captain of the gun-boat, with instructions to take us
to Boma. I have never been made so much fuss of
in my life, and never shall be again, I suppose. How-
ever, that is rather a relief, for I’m not to the “ manner
born.” . . .

f I am glad to say that the delimitation arrangements
commend themselves to Governor Wahis, who is more
than content.”

CHAPTER XV

BOLOBO AND YAKUSU— 1893 to 1896

Disappointments— Material Progress at Bolobo— Spiritual Progress
there— Reports of Misrule by the State— Death of Oram—
Request for Clothes— Progress at San Salvador— Launch of
the ‘ Goodwill— Baptisms at Bolobo— Death of Mr. Balfern
—The Aruwimi— A Chapter of Accidents— Difficulties with
the State Officers— Staff Changes— A School Treat— Girl
Swimmers— Roast Beef and Plum Pudding— Wickedness of
Bolobo People— Wreck of the ‘ Courbet ’—A Slave Snatched
from Death— Losses by Death— Sargent Station— Fataki
and his Wife— Loleka Brickmaking and Building— French
Treatment of Natives— Treatment of Natives by the State-
Plans for the Future.

nr1 HE matters of outstanding interest in the period of
X Grenfell’s life covered by this chapter are, the
reconstruction of the ‘ Goodwill/ the signal development
of the Mission at Bolobo, the founding of Sargent
Station, Yakusu, and the rise of troubles with the State
consequent upon flagrant misrule.

Bolobo was upon Grenfell’s heart all through the
Lunda Expedition, and he was eager to return to his
new home, that he might devote himself to the patient,
spiritual work which he yearned to accomplish, subject
to such welcome interruptions as might be occasioned
by expeditions for the founding of new stations and the
furtherance of his far-reaching plans.

Disappointments awaited him. He arrived at
Underhill early in July, but the winding up of delimi-
tation matters, a brief but happy visit to San Salvador

Back at Bolobo

335

in company with Mr. Lawson Forfeitt, and necessary
Mission business, detained him down river, and it was
not until September 25 that he reached Bolobo.

Here he hoped to find the ‘Goodwill’ afloat, but
instead he was compelled to put in months of work,
often nine hours a day, before the new steamer was
ready for her trial trip. Later, the ‘ Peace,’ which was
so badly worn that the ferule of a walking-stick could
easily be pushed through her hull, lay upon the slip for
months, and was half rebuilt. Often the illness of
colleagues, and consequent short-handedness, left him
in charge of both steamers ; and though he did no
exploration work of moment, he was so continually
going and coming, fetching and carrying, that for
months together he spent only days at Bolobo.

Once he writes en voyage , that when he gets back to
Bolobo he will have covered two thousand miles. It is
obviously impossible within the limits of this chapter to
follow these many voyages in detail. As regards the
extension of the work, his disappointment was very
bitter. The financial stress of the Society, and the
consequent indisposition of many of its supporters to
adopt a costly and adventurous policy, checked advance.
During this period only one new station was established,
viz. Sargent Station, Yakusu. But events have proved
that this single step forward was a great one. The
success at Yakusu has been perhaps unique ; and the
joy of it, was a great alleviation of Grenfell’s many griefs,
as his life drew to its close.

The development of the work at Bolobo was also a
great encouragement, though of necessity it added to
the burden of his cares. Good houses were built there
for the staff of missionaries, increased by the adoption
of Bolobo as the steamer depot, and the transfer of the

336

Bolobo and Yakusu

printing-press from Lukolela. The building of these
good houses for missionaries elicited some criticism from
persons who have a pious dread of missionaries’ comfort
— criticism which Grenfell had no difficulty in rebutting.
Workshops and school-buildings were also erected, and
natives were instructed in various industrial crafts with
so much success that it was no longer necessary to
procure workmen from the coast.

And there was spiritual progress. The wickedness
of the natives, with their petty wars, their witchcraft
executions, their funeral orgies, and their less describable
abominations, constituted a terrible environment. Yet
the power of the Gospel was steadily, if slowly, revealed ;
there were baptisms from time to time, the school
increased in numbers, and Grenfell and his colleagues
had the joy of seeing men and women about them, who
had been rescued from grossest depravity, living the
Christian life, 4 not slothful in business, diligent in spirit,
serving the Lord,’ while others not yet Christians were
doing useful work and living decently and soberly.
Vignettes of some of them will be given by Grenfell’s
pen later on.

The financial troubles of the Society weighed upon
him. He was keen for all possible economy, and ready
with expert advice as regards feasible improvements in
the machinery of administration.

It was at this time that serious reports were first
published concerning the gross ill-treatment of natives
by agents of the State, or others to whom the State
had delegated powers. In this chapter Grenfell will be
permitted to speak for himself upon the subject. It
may be sufficient to state here, that for a long time he
conscientiously believed that the wrongs occurring were
due to inadequacy of administration, and not to evil

A Depleted Wardrobe 337

intent, on the part of the Belgian authorities. The
State had undertaken far more than it could manage
with its paltry resources, and was unable to exercise
due control of its representatives in remote regions.

There were many deaths between 1893 and 1896, and
Grenfell’s brotherly heart was sorely wrung by the loss
of beloved colleagues. He was with Oram when he
died at Bopoto, and wrote home a beautiful tribute to
the character and worth and victorious faith of a
missionary of exceptional promise.

A comparatively trivial matter may here be referred
to. More than once in these years Grenfell writes to
Mr. Hawkes, craving his assistance in replenishing a
depleted wardrobe. The clothes of this pilgrim were
not like those of the wandering Israelites : they waxed
old. He professes impatience with the sartorial demands
made by the increase of civilization on the Congo. He
must have dress clothes to receive Governors, and so on,
and often yearns for ‘ the freedom of the jungle,’ where
he could ‘revel in pyjamas tied with a string.’ It is
open to question, however, whether this impatience was
a deep or permanent emotion ; for, as all his colleagues
testify, Grenfell was habitually punctilious in his personal
appointments. When he was engaged in steamer work
or in brick-making he dressed for the part, but normally
he was lavish of clean linen, and carefully attired.

In the letter to Mr. Hawkes, largely quoted at the
close of this chapter, he gives a detailed inventory of
his requirements in matters of ordinary dress, and also
desires that his friend will procure for him some
buttons and ribbons and rosettes for his decorations.
His instructions are exact and minute, as usual, and
having completed them, he writes : ‘ Am I getting
“daft” in my old age? I think you will believe me

338 Bolobo and Yakusu

when I tell you that I care for these distinctions but
very little, as mere distinctions, but seeing they are so
highly prized by my neighbours, they may possibly be
of service in securing a little extra consideration for
myself, or for my views and communications.’

There is not the shadow of doubt that in these words
Grenfell expressed truly and exactly his own feeling*
He has been gravely criticized for accepting decorations
from such a person as King Leopold. It is enough to
say, in reply, that when Grenfell completed his Lunda
Commission, the scandals of Congo misrule had not
arisen ; and that his acceptance of honours which he
had nobly earned was endorsed by the Home Committee,
who believed, as simply and sanely as he did, that his
distinctions might be useful to the Mission,

To Mr. Baynes.

Underhill, August 21, 1893.

‘ My visit to San Salvador was the source of very
great pleasure — not only because of the intercourse I
had with my brethren there, but also because of the
encouraging change that has come over the place since
my previous visit. My colleague, Lawson Forfeitt, the
pleasure of whose company I enjoyed on this journey,
though he could not contrast the work at San Salvador
to-day with our earliest efforts at that place, greatly
rejoiced at the manifest activity of our small Church,
and the eagerness of the surrounding villages to receive
the ministrations of the missionaries and evangelists.

‘ The Church members number forty-nine ; the
scholars in regular attendance about twice that number,
the girls being more numerous than the boys, a fact
largely due to the very marked influence of Mrs. Lewis,
who is a splendid missionary. On Sundays there
are twelve or thirteen services held in as many villages

CHRISTIAN GATHERING AT SAN SALVADOR.
Opening of the new Church, September 18, 1899.
Photo: Rev. Thomas Lewis.

GRENFELL AND LAWSON FORFEITT IN FRONT OF
MR. LEWIS’S HOUSE AT SAN SALVADOR, 1893
Photo : Rev. Thomas Lewis

At San Salvador

339

within a radius of some six miles from San Salvador.
At four places the natives have built meeting-houses,
and at two of these the San Salvador Church supports
native teachers, and hopes soon to set apart a third for
the same work.

‘Mr. Crudgington’s old friend Buku inquired after
her “ Mwana Hali ” (child Harry), and when she heard
he was again in England begged me to send many
“ mavimpis ” (greetings). The San Salvador Church
members have recently come into contact with the
Chinese labourers sent out for the Congo Railway,
and are greatly interested in the work of our Society
in China. They propose, Mr. Lewis tells me, to give
very practical evidence of their sympathy, by sending
some money to their old friend, Herbert Dixon, to help
him in his work among these people. So you see, my
dear Mr. Baynes, a great change has come over the San
Salvador people since the early history of our work
among them ; such a change as sends us on our way
with renewed courage ; such a change as fills our
hearts with thankfulness to Him in Whose Name we
labour.’

I have met with no record of Grenfell having visited
San Salvador again. But he took constant interest in
the extension of the work at the first B.M.S. Congo
station, and was frequently consulted by his friend,
the Rev. Thomas Lewis, with whom he had much in
common. They were both builders, mechanics, and
explorers, as well as missionaries. Mr. Forfeitt recalls
that during the visit to San Salvador, in 1893, Grenfell
and Lewis spent much time after nightfall in watching
the stars through the latter’s powerful telescope, by way
of increasing their expertness in taking geographical
observations.

34°

Bolobo and Yakusu

Mr. Lewis had done important geographical work
before leaving the Cameroons, where he commenced
his missionary life. His subsequent explorations in the
region of Angola secured the notice and approval of
the Royal Geographical Society, before which he was
invited to read important papers ; and his achievements
in this direction won for him Grenfell’s warmest
sympathy and heartiest congratulations. Mr. Lewis
also gratefully acknowledged his indebtedness to Gren-
fell for valuable hints which aided him in his studies
and researches.

Renewed intercourse with Mr. and Mrs. Lewis was
one of Grenfell’s chief pleasures at the Kinshasa Con-
ference in January, 1906, when he was already a
saddened, burdened man, who foresaw that his race was
nearly run ; and his friends, who had left San Salvador
and founded the Mission in Kibokolo, will always count
the memory of their converse with him upon this
occasion among their dearest recollections.

To Mr. Hawkes.

Underhill, August 22.

‘The purport of this is not to tell you news only,
but to ask your help again. On my return from San
Salvador I got letters from my bairns, saying their
Bibles were old and shabby, and asking me for new
ones. Kindly spend sixteen shillings or a pound on two
Bibles, with Concordance, Maps and “ Aids.” I think
they should be “ Revised,” and on India paper. I like
limp binding. Please write in one : —

‘ “ For Pattie’s thirteenth birthday, with Father’s love,
June 6, 1893.”

‘ In the other : — “ For Carrie’s tenth birthday, with
Father’s love, October 22, 1893.”

‘ Please, also, send them postal orders for five

The ‘Goodwill’ Launched 341

shillings each for pocket-money. The dates of their
receiving these gifts won’t be exactly right, but they will
excuse that.’

To Mrs. Greenhough.

Stanley Pool, April 23, 1894.

‘ I ought to have answered your kind letter long
ago, but circumstances have been so against my letter-
writing of late that I have to plead guilty of being
sadly in arrears with my correspondence. The best
excuse I can make, I think, will be found in an outline
of doings and goings and comings since my return
from the Lunda country, six months ago.

‘When I found myself so long delayed with the
work of the “ Delimitation Commission,” I hoped the
“ Goodwill ” would be afloat by the time I reached
Bolobo. In this, however, I was greatly disappointed,
for both the transport and the reconstruction had gone
very slowly ; and when I reached Bolobo I found Mr.
Jefferd ill in bed, and operations on board the “ Good-
will ” almost at a standstill. As Mr. Jefferd could not
look forward to resuming the work, I felt I must do
what I could towards getting it finished. A couple of
months of continuous effort, involving the neglect of
almost everything else, and we so far completed it as to
be ready for the launch, though there still remained a
considerable amount to be done to the boiler and
engines, as well as to the cabins. We launched the
“ Goodwill ” in the middle of December, but it was not
till the close of January that we were ready to start on
our first journey up river. Our work of reconstructing
the steamer was all the heavier because we had to make
several pieces of one of the engines, to replace those
that had been lost in the transport overland between
Underhill and Stanley Pool. The most important of

342

Bolobo and Yakusu

these missing parts was the high-pressure piston-rod,
and as I did not feel equal to forging it myself, our
Belgian neighbours at the Pool very kindly undertook
to do that part of the work for us. But after the
forging there was all the work of turning and fitting
to be done — a task quite serious enough for the
amateurs at Bolobo. However, we managed to make
“ a job ” of it, and to get the boiler quite tight, though
we had no other help than that of our Mission boys,
and on January 30 we set out on our first journey up
river.

* Just before starting it was my happiness to baptize
three of the youths who had for some time been under
the instruction of our brethren Darby and Glennie, and
to add them to our small Church at Bolobo. At some
Stations on the Upper Congo much greater progress has
been made than at the Stations of the Baptist
Missionary Society — at least in the matter of numbers.
I found on my way up river, however, that some of
the brethren among our more progressive neighbours
were already doubtful of the policy of hurrying mem-
bers into the Church upon profession of faith. One
Church of nearly forty members had been reduced to
ten, and another out of almost as many had lost even a
greater proportion. I do not say this by the way of
criticism of other organizations ; I just tell you so that
you may not be discouraged by comparisons which I
know have been made between our units and the tens
at other Stations.

‘At a large centre like Bolobo it is more difficult
to make a beginning than at a smaller place. The
mutually sustaining forces of superstition arrayed
against us seem to be greater, and the larger the mass
the more difficult it is for a small section to take up an

Deaths of Colleagues 343

antagonistic position. But the leaven of the Word is
permeating the mass, and though its visible effects as
yet are very, very slight, yet it is certainly at work, and
in God’s own good time it shall be manifested to His
glory.

‘ When we got up river as far as Bopoto we found
Mr. Oram seriously ill. Our coming brightened him
up, and we could not realize that he was so bad as he
really was. Poor fellow ! He died the next day, just
two days (as we learn by last mail) before his friend and
colleague Balfern died at Madeira. These are serious
losses for us, and the gaps thus made in our ranks
cannot be filled by new men. Mr. Kirkland stayed at
Bopoto to help Mr. William Forfeitt, but it will be long
before he acquires a knowledge of the language and the
personal influence of his predecessor. Personal influ-
ence is a great factor in the work among wild people.
The message must not only be understandable, but the
messenger must be a man the people know, and one
whom they have learned to trust.

‘ Upon leaving Bopoto we proceeded in the direction
of the Aruwimi, that we might carry out Mr. Arthington’s
wish that we should prospect along the banks of that
river, and report as to the advantages it offered for the
extension of mission work in that direction. Owing to
the fact that it was the season of dead low water we had
so much trouble with sand-banks that we had to return,
after having ascended some thirty miles beyond Basoko.
(Basoko is the fort at the confluence of the Aruwimi
River with the Congo, which has played such an im-
portant part in stopping the progress of the Arabs
westward.)

‘ At the last sandbank upon which the steamer stuck
one of our men met with quite a serious accident. We

344

Bolobo and Yakusu

had all the men out in the water, trying to push the
steamer off, and at the same time the engines were
going astern. The man who was hurt found it fun to
put his foot on the rapidly revolving shaft to feel it
go round. Heedless of the warning to desist, in an
unfortunate moment he carried his foot a little too far
aft, and the propeller caught him by the leg and held
him. Bungudi at once stopped the engine, and then
jumped overboard, to feel how the poor fellow was
mixed up with the propeller, and to determine which
was the best way to turn the engine to get him clear.
Then we gradually turned the engine by hand till he was
released. At one moment I did not think we could get
him out alive ; in fact, he seemed to be dying in the
arms of the man who was holding his head above the
level of the water. But things were better than we
feared, and we were able to get him on one of the
gratings, and then to pass him on board, relieved to
find it was not worse than a case of a broken leg and
badly mangled leg and foot. After this we put out
anchors bow and stern, and gradually warped the steamer
off the bank with the help of the winch. But it was
slow work, and all the while it was in progress the
injured man was groaning from the pain caused by his
wounds, and by the tourniquet we had applied to stop
the bleeding.

‘ Once clear of the sandbank, we determined to return
forthwith to Basoko, and get the help of the doctor at
the fort. But we had to spend two more hours on
another sandbank, and it was not till sundown that we
arrived. The doctor, good man that he is, spent three
hours setting the bone, cutting off contused flesh, sewing
up and getting the leg into shape. No surgical work
could have been more thoroughly done, and we were

A Chapter of Accidents 345

not only grateful for the professional help, but also
because we were relieved of a very painful task that we
could only have performed in a very imperfect manner.
It is not easy for amateurs to do even their best, when
they have such distressing injuries to deal with. Three
days later we left our patient at his home, Bopoto,
under the care of Mr. Forfeitt and Mr. Kirkland ; and
I am quite hoping to see him far on his way to recovery,
when next month I make another journey up river, and
try once more to carry out Mr. Arthington’s wish.

‘ On our way down river all went well till we were
within four or five hours of Bolobo, and then began
quite a chapter of accidents. First of all, as we were
running across a shallow place we felt a severe shock
throughout the whole boat. At the same time we felt
her bows glide over the crest of the sandbank into deep
water, and as there was no perceptible arrest to our
progress, we thought the shock might have been pro-
duced by the propeller striking the sand. A few minutes
later one of the men came to report a leak aft, and
upon searching we found it to be due to the breaking of
one of the bolts of the starboard propeller casing. The
shock we had experienced accounted for this. It was
severe enough to have done much more, and we were
glad that it was not worse.

‘ Half an hour later the port engine began to spin
round at a great pace. It was evidently relieved of its
load. What had happened ? Was the shaft uncoupled,
or had it broken ? The former could easily be put
right ; but as it proved to be the latter, we were in for
a serious piece of work. A long flaw that had not
been observed had developed into a crack, and had at
last resulted in the shaft giving way. There was no
help for it but to proceed with one engine. This fracture

346

Bolobo and Yakusu

occurred in that portion of the shaft which extends
beyond the after part of the hull, and as we were
investigating the matter we found that the shock of
the morning had been more serious than we thought ;
sixteen bolts had been broken, and the propeller-casing
had gone. The efficiency of our remaining propeller
was therefore reduced, but we were still able to go more
than half speed. So, casting off from the bank where
we had ‘ tied up ’ to see what had really happened, we
continued our journey Bolobo- ward.

‘We had covered half the distance, and had only a
couple of hours or so to run, when a tornado overtook
us. With our two engines in going order we should not
have been in a bad way for meeting such an emergency,
but with only one, and that not able to do its best, it
was another matter. The weather was too thick to think
of running before it ; the only thing to be done was to
head up into it ; but with one engine she came round
but slowly, and was caught broadside by the wind. The
wind increasing kept her broadside on, and then, with a
sudden gust, just lifted a hundred square feet of our sun
deck, or awning, clear off the vessel, and blew it away
down stream. We then tried to get the steamer’s head
round to the wind by means of an anchor and chain, but
lost them in the attempt.

‘ Our second effort in the same direction was more
successful ; but finding the force of the wind was drag-
ging our anchor, we had to get out yet another. With
two anchors down and head to wind, our vessel behaved
capitally, and we rode out the storm in good style.
Three hours later the wind had so eased down that we
were able to proceed on our journey, and two hours later
still, just as the sun was setting, we got into Bolobo,
thankful indeed to close so adventurous a day in safety.

A State Palaver

347

‘ It was needful to proceed to Stanley Pool, to
despatch thence the news of Oram’s death, and also to
send for a new shaft for our disabled “ Goodwill,” so I
continued the journey in the “ Peace.” It was indeed a
contrast that was afforded by getting off our fine new
steamer with its greater speed and accommodation, and
getting on board the old one. Notwithstanding the fact
that the “ Peace ” is very much smaller than the
“ Goodwill,” and goes much more slowly, she burns much
more fuel, and thus involves us in a heavier daily task
of wood-cutting — a task of no mean order, when you
consider that the “ Peace ” burns a ton and a half each
day.

'Having reached the Pool, I managed to send off
one or two small notes and letters to Mr. Baynes, and
to the builders of the steamer respecting the broken
shaft. But before I could attack my arrears of letter-
writing I was down with fever, and before my tempera-
ture was normal I was on my way up river to Bolobo
once more.

‘ A few hours after arriving at Bolobo the place was
all in a ferment by reason of the arrival of the State
authorities to settle the "palaver” arising out of the
natives having killed a State soldier some months pre-
viously. The murderer had run away, with his wives
and slaves, to some point where the steamers could not
follow him. This being the case, the Commissaire
demanded ten men to serve as soldiers for seven years,
as a recognition of the authority of the State, and a
pledge for future good behaviour.

1 The palavers were so long and arduous that the
poor Commissaire was thoroughly worn out. That he
persisted in spite of fever and weakness was only due to
his very exceptional energy and determination. It was

348

Bolobo and Yakusu

not unusual for him, after going to bed with ague and
fever, to get up from it with temperature ioo° or ioi°
to talk to the assembled chiefs, and then for him to
“ turn in ” again.

‘ At one point in the negotiations it looked as though
they were definitely ruptured, and that there would be
more fighting. But the memories of the last war and
the influence of the moderates prevailed, the palavers
were resumed, a compromise of six men and a money
payment agreed to, and the whole affair eventually
settled. At Bolobo we had been living under the cloud
of this unsettled difficulty for some months, and at one
time, from what we saw of the temper of the people, we
were seriously afraid the place would have to be burned
out again before they would submit. Happily the cloud
has lifted, and the horizon is clear once more.

‘ The night after the final settlement had been
arrived at, the chiefs sent a big pig to Mrs. Grenfell, as
a token of their thanks for the part she had played in
the matter. Officially, of course, the missionary’s wife
could do nothing ; but indirectly she did a great deal to
strengthen the hands of the moderates, and to make the
nasty pill, of submission to the “powers that be,”
palatable,

‘ With a sick officer on my hands, the town all in a
hubbub, and, to make matters worse, with my colleague
Glennie in bed with fever, the occasion was not a favour-
able one for getting through arrears of work. Matters,
however, being so far settled, I might expect a quiet
time, and an opportunity for doing something in that
direction ; but the Commissaire was so ill that I could
not let him come down in an open boat ; I brought him
here to the Pool in the “ Peace.” As soon as he arrived
the doctor ordered him to Europe, and a medical man

A Great Disappointment 349

has gone down country with him ; but it is very doubtful
whether he will reach the coast alive.

‘ Having thus arrived at Arthington Station once
more, I am utilizing the time, while I wait for the arrival
of caravans with cargo to load the “ Peace,” by writing
one or two letters. Owing to war on the caravan route,
transport has been practically stopped for the past four
months, and our up-river stations are getting short of
food stores. It is therefore all the more important that
I should wait for the arrival of loads that are advised as
being en route. The last contingent is now reported as
being within a day’s march.

'It is a great pleasure for me to learn that Mr.
White is to rejoin us at an early date. We are really
very short-handed, and a man who has had some ex-
perience, and who is always ready to do the next thing,
as Mr. White is, will be very helpful in the emergency
in which we find ourselves just now. On the upper
river, besides having lost our brethren Oram and
Balfern, we have had to part with Darby, on account
of his wife’s health, and with Ernest Hughes. Jefferd
has had to go home on account of his health, Scrivener
is at home on furlough, and Gordon is leaving in a few
days ; so you can imagine how welcome help will be.

‘ It is a great disappointment, after the hopes raised
by the Centenary celebrations and its programme for
advance, to find ourselves reduced in numbers, and, for
the present, with but little prospect of adequate rein-
forcement. We have the best of the land still before us
to be possessed, we have laid down expensive lines of
communication for entering upon its occupation, and
now, instead of taking advantage of these means of
communication, we have to maintain them at great cost,
and to wait for the opportunity to turn them to account.

350

Bolobo and Yakusu

God grant that the time may soon come when we may
act more worthily of our opportunities, and more faith-
fully discharge our responsibilities in these matters ! . . .

‘ My wife desires to thank you for the magazines you
so kindly send ; they are very interesting, — and the
children share in the pleasure they afford, for they
diligently “ read the pictures.” I must not forget to say
thank you also, for the Leaders with the sermons. I
greatly enjoy reading them, and I recognize the turns
of the sentences and call up the Gotham Grove tones
with real pleasure. There is no man’s matter or manner
that I remember better than Mr. Greenhough’s. Don’t
forget the “Annual,” or to send other sermons when
occasion offers. I should be very glad, of course, to get
his promised letter, but I know he is very busy, and I
sin so often myself in the matter of letter-writing that
I am prepared to wait.

‘Please remember us very kindly to Ben and to
Isabel, and to the other members of your little flock.
Our girls, whom Mr. Cameron has just been visiting at
Sevenoaks, are reported as being well and happy, and
getting quite tall. Mr. Cameron says Pattie is up to his
chin. You know Mr. Cameron, I dare say, and will
recognize that that means quite a “length” for a girl,
for he is over six feet.’

To Miss Hawkes.

Bolobo, December 25.

‘ We have been having “ big times ” to-day— school
treat and work-people’s feast rolled into one, and just
now, 6.30 p.m., the native women and girls are keeping it
up by having a dance round our flag-staff. Our school
children numbered nearly seventy, and so far as to-day
is concerned I think they have nearly finished, for they
have just dispersed (somewhat slowly), after eating a

Christmas Festivities

35i

couple of pigs. True, they were not very big pigs,
hardly more than “porkers,” in fact. Still, they were
big enough to take the go out of the feasters, who
would cut but sorry figures now as compared with earlier
in the day, when they were running, jumping, swimming,
diving, skipping and playing pitch-back and cricket, for
prizes of knives, looking-glasses, and fathoms of cloth.

‘ Strange to say, our Mission girls are better swimmers
and divers than the town’s boys, for when they came to
take their turn they fished up not only the brass rods
(our money), thrown in for themselves, but also succeeded
in securing several of those which the boys had aban-
doned as beyond their reach, in the previous contest.
Seeing the boys are regular water-rats, it speaks well for
the capacity of our girls as water-nymphs.

‘ One of the best bits of fun was the tug-of-war
between the Mission folk and the town’s folk. First
two tugs, our side ran away with the visitors, the third
was a most determined struggle. The rope broke ! and
then there was such a jumble of more than a hundred
pairs of arms and legs as one rarely sees.

‘ Roast beef with you is quite the expected thing for
Christmas, but seeing we have not had any for some
months, we were very much surprised yesterday to get
a leg of buffalo from one of our people, just in the nick
of time. But we had no plum pudding ! We had tinned
plum pudding in our store, but, after all, it is only a poor
imitation, and so we decided we would go without, rather
than “ make believe,” as the children say.

‘But though we have had roast beef, and our folk
have had lots of fun, I’ve had anything but a Merry
Christmas. . . . Besides these things I have other
burdens — the most serious of them being those that
arise out of the condition of the Bolobo people. They

352

Bolobo and Yakusu

are rapacious, superstitious, and lawless to a degree that
is quite beyond me to explain. He that has money and
influence, uses his power to take the money from, or
make a slave of, his poorer neighbour. He lays a trap
for him, very often calling in the aid of his wife ; and the
trap proving successful, heavy payment is demanded and
made, even if the making of it involves the unwary one
in selling himself. Two or three cases of fine young
men, free men, having thus to sell themselves into slavery
have occurred of late.

‘ Then, again, there has been an epidemic of accusa-
tions of witchcraft. Some have bought themselves off
by paying heavy fines, and thus escaped the drinking of
the poisonous ordeal waters, but several have been killed
quite near us during the past month. One poor fellow,
in whose case I interfered only last Sunday, was killed
in the night, and this notwithstanding the assurance of
his chief that nothing should be done till we had talked
the “ palaver ” in the morning. . . .

‘ It is impossible for me to tell you the wickedness
and lawlessness of these folk. Our nearest neighbours,
not a hundred yards away, celebrated New Year’s Day
by having a fight over fourpence. After they had so
chopped each other with their long slashing knives that
they could not continue the fight any longer, their re-
spective friends took to their guns, and went out into the
bush and began blazing at each other. Happily, it was
pouring with rain, and the “ fizzing ” and “ popping ” of
their old flint-lock guns was more than usually ridiculous.

‘ During this gun-firing the cry was raised that one of
the combatants was dead, and the women commenced
their wailing. Mamma rushed round, found the man
had only fainted from loss of blood, and soon roused
him again, to the great joy of the womenkind. This

Bloodshed at Bolobo

353

Losere is a very wild, wicked fellow, and when I first
heard the wailing I fear I felt little sorrow at the
prospect of losing our nearest neighbour. But I soon
got over the feeling, and followed Patience, to help her
and Mr. Glennie in bringing him round ; for, bad as
these folk are, one does not like to see them playing the
fool and killing each other off for pots of beer.

4 How it is these people have escaped the fate of the
Kilkenny cats, I can’t imagine. It can only be explained
by the fact that they are always buying slaves, and that
they have not always been so bloodthirsty as they are
just now. Poor Bolobo ! I wish I could see more
readiness to accept what they know and feel to be the
Truth which we try to explain to them. My heart is
very, very sad at times, as I think of them heaping up
judgment against themselves.

‘ But, dear Lizzie, I must not run on preaching.
You’ll be tired. I’ll wind up by again saying how sorry
I am that I’ve not written before, and that it is so long
since we heard from you. We often wonder how you
are all getting on, and wish it were possible to have a
look at you. God bless you, and bless you all ! ’

To the Rev. Lawson Forfeitt.

Bolobo, July 12.

‘ By the time this reaches Underhill I quite expect
that you will be on the spot, and have gladdened the
place by bringing your wife with you. You do not need
to be told that you have the prayers and good wishes of
your colleagues, or that they accord you both a hearty
welcome. We do indeed wish you every good wish, and
pray that God may help you to help each other to serve
Himself. God be very gracious to you both, my dear
Lawson, and give you grace to serve Him well, and
health and strength, that you may serve Him long.

2 A

354

Bolobo and Yakusu

‘ I have just come down river from a visit to the
Loika and Aruwfmi rivers, and a run round Lake
Mantumba, with Joseph Clark and his wife. Health of
all the friends along the line was most encouraging.
Your brother and his wife were in splendid trim. My
wife has accompanied me, otherwise I have had the
“ Peace ” all to myself. She joins me in the heartiest of
welcomes to you both.’

To Miss Hawkes.

Bolobo, October 21.

‘You will be glad to hear that the “ Goodwill ” is in
going order again. We started out on the 27th of last
month for a short trial trip to Bwemba (Mr. and Mrs.
Billington’s Station, thirty miles down river), intending
to come back the following day. But judge of our con-
sternation when we reached Bwemba, to find that the
steamer which had left our beach only three hours before
ourselves, had been wrecked, and the survivors had just
been landed, and were then getting into dry clothes.

‘ The steamer was the “ Courbet,” and was conveying
the Governor of the French Congo, Count de Brazza,
down river on his way to Europe. He stayed with us the
night, and had breakfasted with us before setting out.
You may judge, therefore, of our surprise to find him in
so sorry a plight, and how glad we were he was among
the survivors.

‘ It seems they were just approaching Bwemba, but
on the other side of the river, when they struck a rock.
The rent in the bottom must have been a terrible one,
for the steamer went down in four minutes, sinking in
twelve fathoms of water. The engineer was drowned, as
were also two Algerians, three Loangos, and three
Senegalese. The Governor was in the water some
twenty minutes, and only narrowly escaped with his

A Gallant Rescue

355

life. Though we had set out from Bolobo with the idea
of returning the following day, and were but poorly
provided for the longer journey to the Pool, we felt we
could not do other than go on with the shipwrecked
Frenchmen, and take them to their destination. Thus
it came about that the “ Goodwill ” first visited the Pool ;
for previously she had only journeyed up river from
Bolobo, and her mission on this occasion was one that
accorded very well with her name. . . .

* I think I told you of our neighbour Wolo having
died— the old man who had persisted time after time in
burying living slaves with the corpses of his dead people.
We have reason to fear that several lives were sacrificed
at his funeral, but we have the satisfaction of knowing
that we saved one poor woman. She had been bought
a mile or two to the north of us, and as the buyers
thought we might interfere if they brought her through
our place, they decided to bring her down by canoe.

‘Just as they came opposite to our Station the
woman began to shout, “ They are going to kill me !
come and take me, they are going to kill me ! ” Before
they could gag her, our boys (school-boys and ’prentice
lads) had caught the alarm, and divided into two
parties. One took paddles and followed the canoe, and
the other followed unseen along the path behind the
trees on the river-bank. The people in the canoe (they
were only two men besides the woman), finding them-
selves chased, pulled for the shore. But when they
landed they found themselves between those who had
followed close behind and those who had taken the path
along the shore. Some of the townsmen, however, took
their part, pointed their guns, and defied our boys to lay
hands on the woman. Our youngsters, though they
were quite unarmed, were strong in numbers (they were

356

Bolobo and Yakusu

nearly forty) and in the courage of a good cause, and
lifted the poor bound slave into the boat, and returned
to our beach, not a little elated with their success.

‘ I must confess that it was with considerable misgiving
I saw the boat set out. I was too far off to stop it,
even if I had been so inclined, and I was relieved to find
our boys return without having come to blows, and was
surprised, and naturally enough very well pleased, to
find they had brought the poor woman with them.

‘ Among the young people growing up round us we
have some really very fine, brave lads (some of them are
fast getting too big to be boys, but they are not yet big
enough to be men), and I am not a little proud of the
way they have behaved on several occasions when they
have been placed in very trying circumstances. They
have their failings, like other lads, and often try me by
their crooked ways and weaknesses ; but they have the
makings of brave-hearted, honest men, and I am full of
hope that God will make use of them in producing a new
order of things among their down-trodden and much
suffering countrymen.’

To Miss Hartland.

Bolobo, January 7, 1895.

4 1 am proposing to make an itinerating tour in the
neighbourhood of the junction of the Aruwimi with the
Congo, during March and April. Two of the members
of our Church are from that district. They were stolen
away by the Arabs some ten years ago, and when I was
up river last they saw their people for the first time since
their towns had been raided and burned. These youths
will serve as interpreters, though I fear they have lost a
good deal of their native language during their long
stay with us. One of them found, on our visiting his
home, that his mother was dead. The mother of the

Big Debts 357

other youth refused for some time to believe her
long-lost son had really come back again.

‘ We have some young people among us who have
come from the neighbourhood of Stanley Falls and
beyond, and I hope some day that they may become
messengers to their countrymen, as Mafuta and Disasi
are to theirs. God grant that out of the scourging
inflicted by the Arabs on this poor country some good
may yet arise to those who have suffered so much ! We
know we have your sympathy and prayers in the long
up-hill struggle in which we are engaged. Our dis-
couragements are very many, but God’s Kingdom is
surely coming, even in this dark, dark land.’

To Miss Hawkes.

Near Bangala, April 26.

‘ Mr. Baynes must feel greatly worried with these
big debts year after year. I hate them ; and, so far as
I am concerned, I am prepared to spend only such
money as we have in hand, and to stop as soon as the
Churches stop the supplies. Our share of last year’s
debt is over .£3000, and how we are to cut down to
that extent I don’t see. But if the money does not
come in, we shall have to cut down expenses somehow.

‘But money matters are far from being our only
cares. These last few months have been very trying
times, and I have been not a little worried. A big
Mission like ours, with thirty men and a good many
women, does not run along like a truck on rails. My
share in keeping things going has been harder than ever
of late — though He Who is over all knows I am far from
being satisfied with that share. Happily, I have the
sympathy of Mr. Baynes, and you won’t think I’m
“vaunting” myself if I send you an extract from his
last letter ! He writes : — “ Rest assured of my brotherly

358

Bolobo and Yakusu

sympathy with you, amid the many and constant
anxieties and burdens which fall upon you, and please
also remember that my one great desire is to help you
to the utmost limit of my power ; and never forget that
my most implicit confidence is always placed in you,
and that I am devoutly thankful to our Heavenly Father
for giving us such a wise and tried counsellor and such
a brave and intrepid leader.”

‘ So you see, my dear Lizzie, if you do not read much
about me in the Herald , it is not because I am doing
nothing. Like “Brer Rabbit,” I lie low. Just now I
can do more that way, and by helping others to work,
than if I tried to do anything striking myself.

‘Bangala is in sight, and I must close. Put the
“shaky” handwriting down to the vibration of the
steamer (to reduce which within writing limits, I have
my paper on my knees), and not to my having become
a shaky old man — though I feel that way inclined at
times. But you won’t mind a shaky letter, and will
forgive me, I hope, for having kept you waiting so long.’

On June 3 Grenfell writes to Mr. Hawkes from
Stanley Pool, reporting that since his return from his
recent voyage he has been on his back most of the
time, and in three or four days will be starting in a
hammock, to attend the Committee meeting at Wathen.

‘June 21. The new school, a large iron building
given by the late Sir Charles Wathen, was opened last
Sunday ; nearly three hundred people present. Our new
school at Bolobo was progressing in a very promising
way when I left, and I am hoping I shall find the roof
fixed when I get back.’

Mr. White Prospecting 359

To Mrs. Greenhough.

Bolobo, November 13.

‘ This last voyage from which I have just returned,
has been a very interesting one, being my first to the
district occupied by the Arabs since their submission to
the State. I think I told you in my last letter of the
hope at some future date of leaving two of our Christian
youths among their people, in the district of the Aruwimi.
This intention I realized on this journey, and I am very
hopeful that the “ Kingdom ” may be advanced in some
small measure thereby.

‘ I am sorry to lose the help of the lads in the work
more immediately under my care, for they are among our
most intelligent helpers, and were with me all through
the Lunda journey. They were stolen from their homes
by the Arabs about the time of our first journey in the
“Peace,” and never saw their people again till I took
them up river, a little more than a year ago. I am
hoping to pay them a visit early in the coming year,
and shall be very glad if I am able to send you a good
report of their life in the midst of their old surroundings,
after an absence of ten years or so.

‘This voyage has also been very interesting to me,
because we were able to arrange for Mr. White to
provisionally occupy a point ten miles this side of
Stanley Falls. We left him with a boat and a crew
of a dozen Bopoto boys, so that after spending a few
weeks prospecting he might follow the steamer down
river. I have since had a letter from Mr. White, telling
me he is getting on capitally with his new friends, and
that there is every prospect of finding a magnificent
field for mission work. He also tells me that his boat’s
crew have run away, and that instead of carrying out
his plan of coming down river in the boat, he will take

360

Bolobo and Yakusu

passage in some returning steamer ; for we had arranged
to meet early in the year, to return, if the report was a
favourable one, with the small frame house Mr. White
had been preparing for going forward.

‘Before starting I had written to Mr. Baynes, pro-
posing that we should be allowed to occupy in a very
temporary manner some point of observation at the
front, so that we might leisurely determine upon the
most promising field. This would allow of our making
a move, and in a measure fulfilling the long outstanding
promise of a new station — a station that has figured as
“Monjembo” in the last three reports, I think. It
would at the same time be a move that would involve
us in but very little additional expense/

To the Rev. Lawson Forfeitt.

Bolobo, December 23.

‘Yours of November 22 to hand two days since.
Also the sad news of the death of our brother Davies.
We are very, very downhearted about all these losses
at Wathen. I am indeed sorry for his parents. The loss
after loss the Wathen staff have had of late must make
them feel very, very lonely. Dr. Webb and Philip
Davies dead ; Cameron at the gates of death, and
Bentley very sick, within one short year, is a series that
brings a train of most serious thoughts.’

To Mr. Joseph Hawkes.

Arthington Station, Stanley Pool, January 23, 1896.

‘ The sad story of the Stokes execution has prepared
the public mind for the serious consideration of Congo
State affairs. Without the very emphatic introduction
afforded by Lothaire’s high-handedness, it is likely, I
think, that mere missionary’s tales might have fallen
very flat. We have long believed that the chief points

New Station at Yakusu 361

in the indictment were true — the difficulty is in the
matter of proof , and even now it will be hard to sub-
stantiate many of the accusations, notwithstanding the
moral certainty of their being true. . . .

‘The State is trying to do too much. It cannot
administer its million of square miles in a proper manner
for the mere bagatelle represented by its budget. . . .

‘ It is their first attempt at colonization. If they
knew as well as the Britisher how hard it is to shave
a tender chin with a cross-cut saw, they would
have adopted other methods for lightening their fiscal
responsibilities — or, they would have been content to
allow things to go more slowly.

‘1 leave on the 27th for Stanley Falls.’

To Miss Hartland.

Sargent Station, Yakusu, near Stanley Falls, March 10.

‘ I am so often journeying to and fro that my
opportunities for letter-writing are less than the average,
and my correspondence, consequently, is in a chronic
state of arrears. However, while we are lying off the
beach of our new station waiting for Mr. White to get
things into some sort of shape before we leave him, I
hope to write to a few of my friends, and, if possible,
save the remnants of my reputation, and prove I am not
altogether forgetful of old associations. This is the first
attempt in this direction — in fact, is my first letter
headed Sargent Station.

‘ We are some twelve miles west of Stanley Falls,
and just at the confluence of the Lindi with the Congo.
The Lindi is the river we knew at first as the Mbura,
and that about which Mr. Arthington used to write in
the early days of the Mission. Yakusu, though only a
small place compared with many others open to us,

362

Bolobo and Yakusu

containing as it does but some four hundred people or
so, is, in my estimation, the most promising of them all.
The people appear to be in a transition stage, and trying
to get out of the old order of things. I am hoping we
have arrived at the opportune moment for directing
them into the new,

4 Yakusu, without having come directly under the
influence of the Arabs, being situated about half way
between the important settlements at Rome and Stanley
Falls (where Arab schools are found), has indirectly
been subjected to very considerable influences in favour
of civilization and education. It is true these influences
are not always favourable to the main purpose of our
work ; but, having regard to the awful debasement of
the people, we hail any upward tendency on their part
as a reason for hoping they may have their eyes opened
to their highest and spiritual good. When, as at this
place, they begin to build clay houses instead of the
old-time huts of mats and palm fronds, and to wear
clothes instead of going naked, or practically so, and
when they are anxious to be taught the mysteries of a
book, as these people are, the times are beginning to
change. May our gracious God speedily usher in a new
era for them, for they have sore need !

‘You may have heard, perhaps, that the “ Goodwill ”
left Mr. White at Yakusu in October last, and that
he stayed till Christmas, when he went down river
again, to bring up the material prepared for his first
dwelling-house. As he could not take his few belongings
down river with him, he handed over his doorless hut
and its contents to the care of the Chief, telling him that
if everything was found all right on his return he would
take it as evidence of the sincerity of the people when
they invited him to stay in their town ; and, on the

DEPARTURE OF THE S.S. ‘GOODWILL’ FROM BOPOTO
TO FOUND YAKUSU STATION.

Photo •' Rev. Wm. Forfeitt.

MR. AND MRS. GRENFELL ON THE S.S. ‘PEACE,’ ARUWIMI RIVER,
Photo: Rev. H. Sutton Smith.

363

Fataki’s Wedding

contrary, if his things were stolen, he would take it as a
sign they did not want him, and would go elsewhere.

‘ After staying nearly two months at Monsembe, we
picked him up again in the “ Goodwill,” and brought him
here, together with his building material, four days ago.
He found everything as it had been left — the unfinished
tin of sugar, the few fathoms of cloth, and the small
supply of brass wire, all untouched. This being the case,
our crew soon disembarrassed the “ Goodwill ” of the
timber and planks, and the natives, after dancing and
singing a most emphatic welcome, were soon busy
carrying them up the steps cut in the face of the thirty-
foot cliff, on the edge of which their village stands. . . .

‘ Stanley Falls Station is within easy reach, and as
White is on good terms with the seven or eight officers
there, he will not be far from help — in fact, in a recent
case of serious illness they sent to him for aid. We are
hoping the “ Goodwill ” will take Mrs. White up river to
join her husband in July. The Whiteheads, too, I trust,
will be free to join them then/

To Mr. Joseph Hawkes.

Bolobo, April 20.

‘Among the negatives I sent you in the box I
despatched at the same time as my unfortunate letter,
was one of the wedding-breakfast group at Bolobo, on
Christmas morning. The bride and bridegroom are
seated on chairs on board the “ Peace.” The latter was
taken from his home in the Manyema country by the
Arabs some ten years ago. The name of Fataki was given
to him by his captors, but he is mostly known among
us as Mbala, Mbala being the name of a native chief
whose village is some three miles to the south of us,
and to whom Fataki used to pay a visit each week, to
tell him and his people something of the good things he

364

Bolobo and Yakusu

himself had learned. So intimate did Fataki become
with Mbala that he came to be known by his name, and
names on the Congo are often acquired in this com-
plimentary way. As a result of Fataki’s influence,
Mbala came to us the other day, asking that we would
send him a teacher to reside in his town. Our Mbala
is a good, faithful fellow, and we are full of hopes for his
future. His wife comes from the Kasai, and is a
wonderfully busy, helpful woman. I know of no better
answer to the “ unutterable laziness ” of the negro than
she furnishes. She was chief laundress among our girls,
and went to her husband with quite a nice little portion
in the shape of “ brass rods ” that she had earned. She
is not a member of our Church, but is a real good girl
— in her heart she is all right, but, like lots of good
folk at home, is not able to say very much about
“ faith ” and " regeneration ,” and other mysteries of
Christianity. . . .

‘ Loleka is now my chief carpenter ; he came into
my hands as a very little bit of a boy some nine years
ago. If he were as good as he is intelligent and strong,
I should be much happier on his account. I have had
not a little difficulty in keeping him out of the native
fights among our neighbours. He is as strong as an ox,
and when he gets angry makes a weapon of a stick
other men find it troublesome to lift. While I was away
a short time ago he fought some five or six State
soldiers, and I thought he would have to go to prison,
but after tendering his apologies and promises for the
future, I managed to get him off. (I’m not quite sure
of his opponents.) Big as he is, he is, happily, willing
to listen to Patience, who manages him, all things con-
sidered, wonderfully well. If he comes to good, it will
be largely by her influence. . . .

Rosewood Brick-moulds 365

‘ On looking over the preceding sheets, I find them
so full of crudities that I do not like, my dear Joseph,
the idea of sending them in their present form. How-
ever, I feel sure, if you could only look down on Bolobo,
and see how many and varied are the cares that fall to
a missionary’s lot, you would forgive me for excusing
myself from putting them into better form.

‘ I think I told you that we were removing our
printing-press from Lukolela to this place. It is now
installed in part of the basement of my new house, and
is there in full swing, under Mr. Scrivener’s care — four
native comps. Mr. Scrivener has just completed the
new printing-office, but he is going to make a residence
of it for the present, and leave the press in its temporary
quarters. During his stay here he has hitherto occupied
the house built for myself. Miss de Hailes is living
there till I can get the house recently occupied by the
Glennies ready for her. It has to be considerably
modified, and re-roofed. I am also engaged in making
bricks for the new house to be erected for our lady-
workers, of whom a second, I believe, is on the point of
being sent out. Our brick press (we press all our bricks
the second day after they have been moulded) having
gone wrong, I have taken the opportunity furnished by
the moulders being busy cutting fuel and burning a kiln,
to have the press renovated ; we are also making seven
new moulds (only fancy, we use rosewood for the pur-
pose). All our brick clay has to come by boat from a
point a mile and a half down stream.

‘ In addition to brickmaking and building, I have the
steamer men to look after. They are busy just now
fitting the new propeller-shaft and propellers for the
“ Peace ” — work that calls for a considerable amount
of supervision. We have also five pairs of pit sawyers

366

Bolobo and Yakusu

at work, and getting in timber for these men and looking
after them is another of our tasks.

‘ Bolobo has not only its own special staff to pro-
vide for, but also the steamer and press-workers, and is
thus fast becoming quite a big Station — that is, as Congo
Stations go. Did I tell you that last year we earned
over £500 by carrying freight for other Missions by
our steamer ? Even this meant work — freights are not
so plentiful this year, so we shall not do so well.

* We have services in our school house every evening
— a day school of between fifty and sixty scholars. Miss
de Hailes also carries on night-school work, and visits
the villages most days. We were over twenty who sat
down to the Lord’s Table on the first Sunday of the
month. God grant us grace to let our light shine very
brightly in this dark place ! ’

To Mr. Hawkes.

Bolobo, April 24.

* I must not run on farther without telling you of the
event of the month — the arrival of my youngest daughter
on the 14th inst. All going well. . . .

* For worry and vexation of spirit commend me to
the maintenance of a steamer ; the running of it is a
mere bagatelle. I speak the things that I know.’

During the ensuing months Grenfell made several
journeys to Stanley Pool. At the beginning of July he
met the Governor-General there, who was proposing to
visit Bolobo in a fortnight ; and Grenfell hastened home
in order to arrange a suitable reception, in which the
school-children would take important part. In August
he again went down to the Pool to meet Bentley, who
accompanied him in a voyage to Stanley Falls, inspecting
the up-river stations. This voyage, to which references
are made below, carried him well on into the autumn.

Women have a Way 367

To Mr. Lawson Forfeitt.

Bolobo, November 9.

4 I heard with gravest concern of your going down
with fever. I was glad, however, that the serious news
was quickly followed by word of the crisis being safely
past, and of your preparing for home-going. By this
time I trust you are more like your former self again,
and feeling equal to going on board the 44 Albertville.”

4 1 am greatly indebted to Mrs. Forfeitt for having
written so fully on the various items of business calling
for attention. That she should have had time for it all,
and for nursing you also, is a marvel. I shall be relieved
to hear that she has stood the exceptional strain without
breaking down as soon as the pressure was relieved.
Women seem to have a way all their own of holding on
through a period of stress, and of putting off 44 giving
way ” till there is time for it. . . .

4 1 am writing Mr. Baynes, sending plans of Mun-
dungu and Yakusu (Sargent Station) sites, and asking
him to concert with you for continuing the negotiations
with Brussels. . . .

4 Here at Bolobo I am trying to get things forward
in readiness for commencing a house for Clark as soon
as the dry weather commences — the rains, however, are
exceptionally heavy, stopping all timber-getting and
spoiling many bricks. Field also is talking of building,
but I imagine Howell’s case is more pressing. Just how
it will be arranged is not clear. ... I have never recon-
ciled myself to the idea of your living in one end of a
store.’

On page 170 of George Grenfell and the Congo, Sir

Harry Johnston writes : 4 Much of Grenfell’s preliminary
geographical work had been published by the Royal
Geographical Society in October, 1886, accompanied by

368

Bolobo and Yakusu

his notes. In 1887 they published his chart of the
Congo basin, and very appropriately awarded to him in
that year the Founder’s medal.’

Thereafter, his work was watched with the closest
interest by the first geographers in Europe. In a notable
tribute written for The Missionary Herald \ Dr. Scott
Keltie affirms that but for his extreme modesty Grenfell
might have been one of the best known of British
travellers. To Dr. Keltie’s interest in Africa, and his
respect for Grenfell’s judgment, the reader is indebted
for the following important letter : —

To J. S. Keltie, Esq.,

Secretary of the Royal Geographical Society.

Bolobo, Congo State, November 25, 1896.

‘Yours of July 13 reached this place just after
I had started on a two months’ journey to Stanley
Falls, or it would have been replied to ere this ; but
even now that the occasion serves for a reply, I am sorry
I cannot give you the details for which you ask. The
fact is, Bolobo is two hundred miles from the district
where the reported cruelties have taken place, and all
the information I have is indirect, and is mainly such as
I see has already been published in the newspapers at
home.

‘ In this neighbourhood it is impossible for the State
even to lightly tax the people, much less can they
seriously coerce them, for at the very first appearance
of restraint they seek refuge on the French side of the
river. A few years ago there was scarcely a village of
importance on the French side for upwards of four
hundred miles beyond Stanley Pool, now there are
several, and mainly formed by people who have fled from
State administration. As the French do not attempt to

Fleeing from Taxation 369

“ administer,” and as the natives do not like to have
their old-time “ liberties ” curbed in even the slightest
degree, they simply cross the river, and rejoice in
absolute “ freedom.”

‘ The policy of letting the people alone is a very wise
one for the French, for it is resulting in their securing a
considerable population for their comparatively unpeopled
bank of the river. When the topic has been referred to
in conversation with officers of the State, the reply has
been, “ We might just as well be without people as with
them if they will do nothing for us.” The position is a
very difficult one ; but, although the people may not be
worth a great deal to the State to-day, prospectively
they are of immense importance, and a wise policy
might stop the steady migration to the other side.

‘ Beyond the confluence of the Mubangi with the
main stream, where the active collection of rubber and
imposition of taxes commences, there is no safe “ other
side.” The natives of Irebo and of places near the
Equator, however, drop down stream in their canoes,
and then cross over. Below the Mubangi the Adminis-
tration is by no means oppressive, and the real grievances
of the people are very few ; but as soon as one reaches
the point where both banks of the river are in the hands
of the State, one enters upon the district whence come
all the recent reports of cruelty — reports that may be
slightly exaggerated here and there, but in the main, I
fear, only too true. In fact, with the system of commis-
sions on revenue collected and a practically uncontrolled
soldiery as tax-gatherers, it would be strange if brutal
excesses were not resorted to for the extraction of the
last possible penny. A million square miles cannot be
equitably administered and made to pay its way by
means of a mere handful of officials (I don’t think they

37°

Bolotoo and Yakusu

average one for every two thousand square miles), with
the help of a very superficially civilized soldiery.

‘ In my estimation, there is another question not one
whit less important than that I have just touched upon —
I mean that of slavery, for there can be no doubt as to
the encouragement of slave-raiding by the State system
of purchase and liberation. I suppose that technically
the State can avoid the charge of “ slavery,” but it is
morally responsible for a long chain of evils which the
system drags in its trail over a very wide district.

‘ If both the purchasing of slaves and the giving of
commissions on revenue collected could become things
of the past, I should be able to look forward with hope
to the future of the Congo State. I know that revenue
must be raised, and that a conscription is often a
necessity ; but I believe both men and money could
be obtained without involving such terrible evils as I
now deprecate — not perhaps sufficient for the carrying
out of the Congo programme at the present apparent
rate of progress, but certainly in a manner that would
be immensely more for the ultimate benefit of the
country.

‘ Going up river on the journey to which I referred
at the head of this letter (Consul Pickersgill, C.B., of
Loanda, was on board, and made copious notes), we
followed for some fourteen hundred miles in the wake
of the Governor-General, who is still up river on a tour
of inspection. It is, I think, very evident, from the fact
that two Belgians have been sentenced to considerable
terms of imprisonment, and the powers of individual
agents very generally curtailed, as well as from the
fact that very considerable reductions in the rubber-tax
have been made at several points we visited, that the
evils which have been attracting so much attention of

Twenty Hands Cut off 371

late have already moved the authorities to take action.
It remains to be seen if the action will prove to be
adequate.

‘ After all we had seen of the trend towards a better
state of affairs in general, and of the good results of the
policy of Baron Dhanis in the neighbourhood of Stanley
Falls, we were greatly disappointed to find, on our return
to the Equator, that only a week before our arrival there
one of the missionaries, on visiting a native village shortly
after the passage of a body of soldiers, counted more than
twenty hands they had cut off as many victims — some of
them evidently children. If this thing is going on while
the Governor General is still up river on a journey of
inspection, and at places comparatively close to a
mission station, who can say what is going on in the
wide districts whence no reports can possibly come ?

‘ The French seem to be paying very little attention
to those parts of their territory that come under our
observation, but they seem to be increasingly active in
their northern and north-eastern territories. Apparently
they are only developing their Congo province just so
much as may be needful for making it of use as a means
for pushing farther.

* I heard a month ago of Lieutenant Livtard having
reached Tambora (about 5° 25' north latitude, and
270 45' longitude), but scarcely gave it credence. I
have just heard, however, from an officer recently
down from that neighbourhood, that the French are
undoubtedly on one of the Nile tributaries, though
not in any great force. Lieutenant Livtard, after
pushing his way to Tambora, seems to have established
himself, and sat down to wait for reinforcements, just
as the State seems to have done at Dongu ; only the
State seems to have settled down very seriously, and

372

Bolobo and Yakusu

made a really strong position. Two or three hundred
Senegalis passed up river some four months ago, forming
part of a French expedition against the Dervishes, it was
said ; but whether they have yet come into contact with
them is very doubtful. I am told there are several
officers and quite an accumulation of stores at Brazzaville,
waiting for a steamer to take them up the Mubangi.

‘ To revert to State news. I suppose you have heard
of the further revolt of the Batetelas, on the Upper
Sankuru. Report says there are Arabs mixed up in
this affair, and that Governor Wahis, instead of coming
down in the steamer sent up for him, has taken
command of the operations for quelling the revolt.
While we were at the Falls the Governor was on his
way south to Nyangwe and Kasongo. We learned
that Baron Dhanis intended shortly to follow the fifteen
hundred soldiers he had sent northwards, but we have
since heard that plans have been changed.

‘ I fear you will be wishing, when you read all this,
as you did when you read my last, that I wrote more
definitely. It is most difficult, I can assure you, to
get exact news ; however, the foregoing may give you
a general idea of the trend of things that may not be
without some interest, especially to one whose interest
in things African is so keen as your own.’

To the Rev. Holman Bentley.

Bolobo, December 7.

‘Yours of a month ago reached me on the 5th. I
had heard a few days previously of the death of one of
the boys accompanying you. I know you will have felt
it keenly to have to bury him on his way home.

‘ I note what you say about the Commission.1 I’m

1 The Commission for the Protection of the Natives.

Commission Continued 373

sorry I cannot get up much enthusiasm about it. Who
is to pay travelling expenses ? I fear it is an unworkable
machine. There is not one of the Commissioners who
is not hundreds of miles away from the district whence
all the trouble is reported, and by the time we could set
foot in it to make inquiries we should find ourselves
face to face with interested officials prepared to block
our way at every turn. Seeing that most of the charges
in the papers could be substantiated, it was needful to
do something. What better to allay the excitement
than the appointment of a Commission of Missionaries ?
And what steps could have been taken that would
interfere less with the powers that be out here ?

‘ If the State is in earnest about reforming these
abuses, it can do it ; if it is not in earnest, no mere
commission of impotent missionaries can make it. I
see a new “ Inspector ” has been appointed ; but there
is not much to be hoped for from a man who can’t speak
the native language. I have heard interpreters tell the
most astounding things to interlocutors. The State is
largely handicapped in its work in outlying districts by
rascally interpreters and lawless soldiers, and a new
system will have to be inaugurated before things are
mended.

‘ As yet I have heard nothing more than yourself ;
in fact, know of nothing excepting what has reached me
through the papers. It may be that we shall be invested
with more possibilities than appear ; if so, so much the
worse for our personal comfort.

4 We have been expecting the Governor down for
some ten days or more, but have just heard that he is
staying up country, to take command of the operations
against the Batetelas. I shall certainly broach the
subject of the recent Equatorville killing and mutilation,

374

Bolobo and Yakusu

if I only get the chance. Till one has received some
sort of authorization and had some sort of a conference
with his colleagues, he can hardly act officially. If
things move smartly it might, perhaps, be managed in
three months ! We are practically very much farther
apart than if we had been scattered over the capitals of
Europe before the days of the telegraph ! My dear
Bentley, I shan’t say all I think, even to you ; if I were
to say all I think, I might be called rude.

‘ Stephens left ten days ago in the “ Goodwill ” for
Bopoto. I have just had a letter from White — he has
been poorly again. I am glad to learn Lawson Forfeitt
is so much better ; also to find the health report from
Wathen satisfactory. Greetings from wife and self for
you all.

‘P.S. — Baptismal service yesterday. Mora and
Nsamo added to the Church. Day-school average over
120. Sunday-school yesterday 150. We are greatly
encouraged.’

To Mr. Hawkes.

Bolobo, December 14, 1896.

‘ The Governor-General is still up river, and not a
word of news trickles down. We shall all be relieved to
know that things are going well in the south-east.
What the country needs is a policy strong enough to
keep the Arabs and the unruly in check ; and one that
is more ready to wait for the natural development of the
country than the recent one has been — a policy more
ready to “ make haste slowly.”

‘ Your cover containing pages of Spectator reached
me on November 20 ; the Spectator itself came yesterday,
and is as yet our most recent news. Many thanks for
the sending of these special sheets in advance. Bolobo
is unitedly grateful, and Bolobo is quite a community

375

Fag’g'ing’ away

now. As you may well imagine, we are impatiently
waiting for the next instalment of news — October 2
leaving us, apparently, on the eve of important develop-
ments.

‘I spoke to Mr. Howell about your “St. John on
Haiti ” — he left the book behind, with instructions for it
to be sent to you, but instead it has been sent after
him here. It is already packed ready for going back to
England. He is very sorry for the mischance. I am
glad you like Howell ; I find him a real help. He
is away just now at Bopoto, and I expect he will be
bringing Mr. and Mrs. Wm. Forfeitt down when he
returns with the “ Goodwill,” say in a week’s time. Mr.
Field is away on the “ Peace ” to the Pool, but should be
here for Christmas, on his way up the Mubangi. I’m
fagging away at accounts, correspondence and general
drudgery, and have more than I shall overtake by
February, when I expect to leave once more for Sargent
Station. These journeys of mine so break up the years
that they slip by at an alarming pace. Here we are on
the threshold of 1897, and I have yet scarcely become
accustomed to writing 1 896 !

‘Unhappily, the times are moving faster than we
are. Between 1887 and 1890 (my previous term), we
managed to open three new stations. Six more years
have gone, and we have only opened one ! True, we
have had a series of “ hard times,” but we have also had
the Centennial. However, if we have not been marching
to the front very vigorously we have been strengthening
our position all along the line, and securing better con-
ditions of life.

‘Already, it seems to me, the better conditions are
resulting in more work being done. In the early days
of a mission in a country like this a good deal of

376 Bolobo and Yakusu

“ roughing it ” is necessary ; but it is not economical to
go on “roughing it” when it is possible to secure a
modicum of comfort. Our friends of the Congo Balolo
Mission, after as brave an attempt as has ever been
made to live and work on so-called “ economical ” lines,
decided some two years and a half ago to build sub-
stantial and commodious houses, in the hope of being
able to mend their health-rate and conserve their power
for work, finding it next to impossible to go on as they
were. They have now two fine buildings, much more
ambitious than anything of ours on the upper river,
fast approaching completion. The heavy losses they have
suffered this year very markedly accentuate, in my estima-
tion, the need for better conditions of life — they have lost
seven of their number during the past twelve months !

‘ God has indeed been gracious to us in the matter
of health ; humanly speaking, it is largely due, I believe,
to our having secured more comfortable circumstances
for ourselves. All this has a tinge of worldliness and
selfishness, I fear ; still, you will allow, I think, there is
a substratum of common sense for the position I maintain.
Have you noticed Sir H. Johnston’s criticisms of the
missionaries’ mode of life in his district? He says
plainly they suffer needlessly because of the voluntary
hardships they undergo.

4 That I might give our Committee an idea of our
improved houses, I have prepared a series of photographs
on the same scale, showing the residences on each of
our Stations from the Pool to the Falls. I enclose one
or two waste and spoiled prints (I have not a scrap of
paper left, or I would send something better), by way of
giving you an idea as to how we are housed.

‘ Since I have been in my new house, the photograph
of which I think I sent you some months ago, I am

GRENFELL'S EARLY HOME AT BOLOBO.
, Photo : G. Grenfell.

GRENFELL’S HOME AT BOLOBO.
Photo : Rev. Frank Oldrieve.

A Paying* Investment 3 77

able to speak more emphatically as to the advantages
of better accommodation. I feel sure my new house is
a paying investment for the Mission, seeing I am better,
and can do more. On the Congo I’ve never had more
than a three- roomed house up till now, and now, with
the bath-room, we have six !

‘ Besides the photos of dwellings I send you two of
the school (interior and exterior). My poor prints make
our little folk look atrociously ugly. I don’t like sending
the pictures, for I feel I am libelling them.

‘ I imagine the group of youths and young men will
be as interesting as any of the pictures — to me it is the
most interesting, being even fuller of immediate promise
than the school group. More than one-third of those
composing this picture are members of our Church, and
some of them are active and capable workers in the
Master’s service as well as that of the Mission. The
best workers at their trades are the best and most
consistent in serving the Lord.

4 The picture of the “ Goodwill ” on the beach at
Sargent Station explains itself — excepting perhaps the
‘‘bricklayer out for a holiday.” He wanted “ a change,”
so agreed to work his passage on the “ Goodwill,” that
he might see the Falls. He figures in the group of
young men as the fifth on the central row from the left
edge of the picture. He is just now roofing in our kiln,
in which we are stacking fifty thousand bricks and tiles
We are having exceptional rains, and much of our work
is at a standstill. Can’t even burn our bricks without a
house for the kiln ; and the roads are so heavy we can
barely get timber enough to keep our three pit-saws
going. The saw-pit is just under my study window, so
that I can keep my eye on the sawyers without going
out of doors !

378

Bolobo and Yakusu

‘ We had a baptismal service last week, adding two
young women to our Church. People are showing much
more interest in our services, and our school building
is crowded every Sunday, and often fairly filled for the
daily evening service. Day scholars average over 120.
Sunday School, on the adoption of a regular class
system, has gone up to 150. Our hearts are glad
because of God’s goodness to us in these things, and
for the signs of the coming of His Kingdom. Oh that
it might come more quickly !

* Our friends of the American Evangelical Missionary
Alliance (Dr. Simpson’s organization), who are already
some thirty strong on the lower river, sent a party east-
ward from Matadi, to make a “ bee line,” so far as might
be, for Lake Tanganyika, some six months ago, but after
going about two hundred miles found themselves com-
pelled to return. I am glad to learn they intend to make
another try next season. They won’t reach Tanganyika
for some time, but there’s nothing like aiming high. I
wish to goodness I could get our folk fervid enough to
embark on some more or less “madcap” scheme (of
course, all the “sober-sides” out here say the Tanganyika
scheme is “madness”), such, for instance, as the re-
demption of the promises we made some eighteen or
nineteen years ago, when we talked of Lake Albert and
the Nile ! I feel terribly mean when I think of these
things, and the way we are settling down in comfortable
homes and stations and dropping the pioneering.
Comfortable homes and stations are essentials for per-
sistent work — they are stepping-stones from which it is
easier to move forward to-day than it was for us to
leave Banana when we first landed there nineteen years
ago. But folk at home seem horrified at the thought of
pushing ahead, for fear of being compelled to follow on.

Planning New Campaigns 379

‘Don’t think I’ve dropped “ pioneering” because I’m
tired of it. I never think of it but my soul burns to
be up and off again. The only inducement that would
be strong enough to take me to the old country (in my
present state of mind and body), would be the hope of
being able to start a new campaign.

‘To complete our chain of stations on the Upper
Congo, it seems to me, we need one near the Aruwimi.
Each of the important languages would then have its
centre of Christian work, where the seed would be sown,
and in God’s own good time evangelists trained. If we
set down two or three stations among people speaking
one language, we should have two or three sets of
missionaries hammering away at the same time at the
difficulties involved in reducing a language to writing,
whereas they might just as well be doing foundation
work among distinctly separate people. At present
each of our up-river stations is placed among people
speaking their own particular language, and by that fact
very largely separated from their neighbours. I am a
great believer in the effectual working of the “leaven
of the Kingdom,” and I want to see the leaven set
working in separate districts rather than at several
separate points in the same district. It involves a little
longer waiting, perhaps, for results, but the total result,
after a considerable period, will be infinitely greater.

‘We have one more important district on the banks
of the main stream yet to occupy, and, in my esteem,
when Messrs. Weeks and Glennie return we shall be
strong enough to take it up. This being done, and the
centre of the continent being accessible by railway and
steamer, the time will have come for us to push through
once more. It will be as easy to start inland from any
point on the river as it was from the coast when we

Bolobo and Yakusu

380

began our work, though perhaps a little more costly.
I am told the Churches will not listen to any such wild
and costly scheme as would be involved by an overland
transport towards the further interior. What they faced
in 1878 and 1879 they won’t shrink from in 1897, I
feel sure.

4 The American Presbyterians are facing inland
transport difficulties towards the Upper Kasai, and the
Alliance people are not afraid of a bee-line project
towards Tanganyika. American missions also are on
Lake Mantumba and on the Juapa river, and are thus
occupying south and east of the great bend. The
Congo Balolo Mission and ourselves occupy the first two
degrees north of the line at seven different points ; but,
what about the two thousand miles lying between the
Congo and the Mediterranean, the largest unevangelized
district in the world ? Is nothing to be done for it ?
The work on the southern line of this immense tract
lies nearer to our hands than to the hands of any one
else — it is the work over against our “ own house,” and
we ought to see to it.

' I’ve told you all this, I know, times and again, but
it haunts me, and I must tell somebody once more, and
just now, to relieve the pressure.

'But I must “ dry up,” or you’ll be calling me to
account for wasting money on postage, if I’ve nothing
better to say. Never mind, my dear Joseph, it "relieves
my feelings,” and you’ve always a remedy at hand in
the shape of an open fire.’

CHAPTER XVI

MISSIONS AND SOCIAL RESULTS

Extent of Grenfell’s Travels— Sierra Leone Missions— Place of
Education — The Labour-market— Results of Mission Work at
Cameroons— Increase of Trade— Benefit of Missions — Punish-
ment of Death— Waste of Human Life— Rise of an Artisan
Class— Influence of Language— Results of Mission Work-
Comments on Romish Missions— Polygamy— Habits of Industry
Inculcated — Evil Conditions of Native Life — Missions the
Only Hope.

AMONG the papers which were handed to me
by Mrs. Grenfell was a weather-stained, barely
legible document, which proved to be the rough draft
of a letter written by Grenfell to the Rev. J. S. Dennis,
D.D., the well-known American writer on Christian
Missions. In preparing his comprehensive work, subse-
quently issued in three volumes, entitled Christian Mis-
sions and Social Progress , Dr. Dennis wrote to Grenfell
early in 1895, requesting answers to a schedule of perti-
nent questions, which might be useful to him in his
work. Grenfell’s reply, which was in effect a small
treatise on missions and social results, constitutes the
present chapter.

And, happily, the reader is in possession, not of the
rough draft, but of the finished essay, a press copy of
which was enclosed in a letter to Mr. Hawkes, dated
Stanley Pool, June 3, 1895, in which Grenfell speaks of
Dr. Dennis as inquiring concerning his views * on the

382 Missions and Social Results

sociological results of missions, apart from the distinctly
religious ones, which constitute our chief aim ; 5 and as
‘ trying to compile a resumS of Mission results which
shall constitute an argument in favour of Missions with
those who do not lay stress upon the conversion of the
heathen/

Dr. Dennis gave due weight to the writer’s opinions,
and incorporated some portions of the treatise in his
book ; but as the subject is of no less vital interest to-day
than it was in 1895, and as the treatment is so personal
and characteristic, it seems fitting to include this long
letter in the present volume.

To Dr. Dennis.

Bolobo, Upper Congo, March 28, 1895.

‘ I sincerely regret that it is not possible for
me to reply to your letter and circular at the length
I should like, or in a manner worthy of the important
topics you suggest. Nor can I furnish you with cate-
gorical replies to the questions you propose, or state
definitely that such and such results are the outcome
of missionary efforts, seeing that for the greater part of
my twenty years in Africa Missions have not been the
only modifying force in those parts of the country that
have come within my observation. However, possibly
you will be able to glean from the following statement of
my experience one or two ideas that may go to
strengthen the position you propose to maintain with
regard to the sociological value of Christian Missions.

‘ During my African experience I have had occasion
to visit many of the centres of Christian activity on the
west coast, from Sierra Leone to St. Paul de Loanda
and the river Quanza, but the fields in which I have
myself worked have been those on the banks of the
Cameroons and the Congo rivers, the former falling into

An Unsatisfactory Policy 383

the sea near the fourth parallel of north latitude, and
the latter near the sixth parallel south. Towards the
interior, the more distant mission stations visited have
been those on the Congo and Quanza rivers, respectively,
about a thousand miles and three hundred miles east-
ward from the coast.

‘ Though my visits to Sierra Leone have always been
brief, yet I have had considerable experience of em-
ployees trained by the Missions there, and my experi-
ence justifies me, I think, in attributing much of the
odium that has fallen upon Sierra Leone Missions for
having produced sociological results that are the reverse
of desirable, to the mistake that has been made in
laying so much stress upon scholastic education, and so
little upon technical training. To give a considerable
education to young people who have none of the
restraints of Christianity to regulate their conduct, and
who despise labour rather than recognize any dignity in
it, is regarded by all those who have had experience of
the African character as a very unsatisfactory policy.

‘ However, notwithstanding much that is unsatis-
factory, and that has made Sierra Leone a byeword with
many, there can be no doubt that it is mainly as a result
of the labour of Christian Missions that there is to be
found to-day an intelligent and well-trained class of
officials, who do the greater part of the administrative
work of the Colony, and a class of commercial men,
who, almost to the exclusion of white men, carry on an
export trade that amounts annually to some two and a
half millions of dollars. The home demands of the
Colony for educated men being more than supplied,
Sierra Leone clerks and teachers are found along the
greater part of the West Coast, and often far in the
interior ; many of them honourably filling useful and

384 Missions and Social Results

important positions, others replacing Europeans, and
doing harder and more continuous work.

‘ At the same time, it cannot be said that the educated
Sierra Leone man is always appreciated ; in fact, his
education is frequently a source of difficulty, when he
has to labour, for a third or a fourth of the wages,
alongside of a craftsman who has received a technical
training, but who, it may be, can neither read nor write
so well as himself. To the African, if he is to rise
above the old condition of things, habits of industry are
even more important then the ability to read and write,
and the education that is not accompanied by systematic
work (if it does not involve habits of industry in its
acquisition), is very often little better than a snare.

‘The skilled labour-market of the West Coast is
mainly supplied by men trained by the Basle missionaries
at Accra : and although those trained are British sub-
jects, there are as many of them who find employment
in the German, French, Spanish, and Portuguese Colonies
as under their own flag. The mission-trained mason,
carpenter, cooper, blacksmith or engineer is found in
the employ of nearly every business house along two
thousand miles of coast : and, while pursuing his
handicraft, he demonstrates to the untutored natives,
with whom at hundreds of different points he is brought
into contact, what they themselves might do in the way
of utilizing their long-neglected resources. He also
accustoms them to the use of mysterious tools and
mechanical forces, and also, at many points, to the use
and control of the more mysterious power of steam.

‘While I cannot speak of the results of Mission
training at Sierra Leone and Accra except as I have
seen them exemplified at considerable distances from
those places, I am able to speak of the results of the

New Needs and New Supplies 385

work at Cameroons from experience gained while
living for some years among the people in their own
country. Ten years after I first went to Cameroons,
and after forty years’ work on the part of the Baptist
Missionary Society, the operations of our missionaries
were in 1884 brought to a close by reason of the
German occupation.

‘Apart from the changes that had resulted from
religious teaching, very considerable advance by that
time had been made in the social condition of the
people. Many of them had learned the use of tools,
and had profited by the experience gained in building
the chapel, the school and the mission house, to the
extent of being able to embellish hundreds of their
habitations with carpenter-made doors and windows,
and simpler items of furniture, and, in several cases, to
the extent of being able to replace the usual structure
of palm fronds, woven cane and a few posts stuck in the
ground by brick houses, three of them being ambitious
two-storied erections.

‘ The ambition to possess better houses and furniture
had been accompanied by the desire to adopt more and
more the ways of civilized life, with the result that a
very considerable stimulus in favour of the development
of commerce had been afforded. Increasing needs
could not be met out of old resources, and to meet them
new districts were opened up ; longer journeys were
made interior-wards for the purposes of trade, and an
energy and perseverance shown in the collection of the
natural products of the country which were altogether
unknown under the old regime.

‘ In the early days of the Mission the invoice of a
whole ship’s load of cargo could be made out on a sheet
or two of paper — the whole list of articles required by

2 c

386 Missions and Social Results

the people being comparatively few ; but in later years
the invoice of a ship’s cargo formed quite a volume.
With the advance of the people, their wants were no
longer supplied by the very few items that included but
little beyond two kinds of spirits, sundry hogsheads of
tobacco, cases of guns, barrels of powder, a supply of
cutlasses, salt, soap, and earthenware, and, say, half a
dozen different kinds of beads, and a dozen different
patterns of cotton goods, which formed the staple articles
of barter. To-day the changes of fashion in the articles
of commerce, like those in the old country, are so rapid
that merchants dare not load up a ship with even a
varied assortment of goods, lest they should be out of
date before they could be sold. To meet the wants of
people, traders have to watch the markets, and to take
advantage of the rapid communication afforded by the
several lines of steamers that have practically ousted the
sailing ships from the West Coast trade.

‘ Commerce might say, “ These are largely our
victories ; ” but how is it that at points along the coast
where trade has been carried on as long as it has been
at Cameroons and other centres of mission enterprise,
there has been no similar development ? How is it
that the old list of barter goods still meets the require-
ments of the natives ? The reply is not far to seek —
they do not buy tools because no one has taught them
their use, and they therefore live in the old-style tempo-
rary hut, where it would be absurd to introduce the
furniture and appointments of civilization. Having
developed no energy beyond that needful for the supply
of their more immediate and pressing wants, they have
not been able to indulge in comparative luxuries till
they have become almost necessaries of life— -to the
great benefit of commerce. Possibly their sum -total of

Fines op Death

387

happiness is not much less, because they have not
learned how to wear clothes or boots, or because they
have not become accustomed to sit at table, or take
tea and sugar, or to make use of canned provisions and
patent medicines ; but certainly trade has not been
benefited by the impetus in favour of civilization that
has resulted at other places from the presence and
teaching of the missionary.

‘ But more important than the development of trade
has been the influence of the missionary’s teaching
against the sad waste of life that resulted from the
maintenance of cruel customs and superstitions, and
against the readiness with which, in every case of
difficulty, the appeal was made to the force of arms.

4 In a rude state of society, such as that which obtains
at Cameroons, where a few chiefs and free men claimed
to hold the rest of the people as slaves, and where
there were no prisons, the only punishments were fines
or death. The free paid even for murder, and went
free, the slave had nothing to pay with (all that he had
was his master’s), and so had to die. Then, again,
the only means by which the minority could hold the
majority in hand was by a liberal recourse to the extreme
penalty. But even in this it was needful to act warily,
for even slaves become influential, and secure a following
among their fellows that is not easily dealt with. In
case a slave failed to be duly amenable to his master,
when he showed a disposition to retain too large a share
of the profits of a trading expedition, or when he pre-
sumed to copy too freely the manners of a free man,
a charge of witchcraft and an extra strong decoction of
the poisonous ordeal bark were the readiest and surest
means of dealing with him. The man, conscious of his
innocence, had no fear ; the man’s friends, even his wives

388 Missions and Social Results

and children, were all afraid of one lying under such a
charge ; and seeing that he died, the accusation must
have been true, and they were more than resigned, since
they were rid of his malign influence.

4 Where nine out of every ten wives were just as
much the property of their husbands as the great pro-
portion of the people were of their masters, and where
the greatest restraint in favour of both wives and slaves
was the loss of money value that would result if they
were killed or married, it does not need to be told that
this mere loss of money was no sufficient curb on the
angry passions of men, to prevent great and continuous
loss of life.

‘ It was only by persistently inculcating the sanctity
of human life, by showing the absurdity of fighting and
losing several lives over a mere dispute, by demonstra-
ting from time to time the folly of charges of witchcraft,
and by saving lives without incurring the dreaded results,
that the missionaries succeeded in creating a sentiment
that resulted in the sparing of many lives that would
otherwise have been sacrificed. It cannot, however, be
claimed that the missionaries succeeded in putting any-
thing like a stop to the cruel waste of life incident upon
savage rule ; but to have saved some lives, and to have
so guided public opinion that things which used to be
done openly came to be done comparatively in secret,
were results of no mean value, and well worth striving for.

‘ Considering the ease with which life is supported,
and the bounty with which Nature responds to the
labour of her children, it may be fairly argued that but
for the reckless waste of life Central Africa would be
wonderfully more populous than we find it to be. But
population is checked not only by the death of so many
poor victims of savage and superstitious rule, but also

Wage-earning Craftsmen 389

by the terrible laxity of morals that obtains. Bearing
upon this question is the very noticeable feature of a
greatly improved birth-rate among those communities
that have come under the influence of mission training.
“ How is it,” many a native has asked the missionary,
“ that your people, who have only one wife apiece, have
so many more children than I have, with my six or
ten wives ? ”

* Under the old regime society was divided into two
well-defined classes — the masters, who did the trading,
mostly very smart business men, and the slave who did
the work. Under the training of the missionaries, a
third, and, as it has proved, a very important class, has
been developed — that of the wage-earning craftsman.
Though for the most part this third class consisted of
men born of slave parents, it was a class that, in response
to training, furnished men who were able to build two-
storied brick houses, work a Denny printing-press, run a
small steam saw-mill, or a small sea-going steamboat,
and it can easily be imagined that though it did not
constitute numerically a very important community, it
was a very different one to be reckoned with as com-
pared with that which furnished the paddlers for their
master’s canoes.

‘ In addition to developing the self-reliance and
resourcefulness of a more or less skilled body of artisans,
the missionaries, by teaching them a civilized language
and bringing them into contact with the literature and
civilization of the world, have placed them in a position
of great advantage, as compared with those among whom
mission work has been carried on exclusively in the
language of the country. From a distinctly religious
point of view, it may be debateable as to whether it
is advantageous or not to teach a new language, but

39° Missions and Social Results

from a social point of view the gain is very distinct. If
work is done through the medium of the native tongue,
it is long before even the rudiments of literature can be
translated or rendered available. On the other hand,
every intelligent scholar is able to help himself, and
those around him also, from the immense stores at his
disposal, when he has once mastered English, or any
one of the European languages, and, possibly, the
sociological impulse is even greater from contact with
the world through the medium of its periodical press
than it is from contact with the treasures of its
literature.

* Where the native tongue is alone the vehicle for
instruction and communication, the maintenance of the
old trading monopolies of the head men, of the wide-
embracing institution of slavery, and the despotic cruelty
of the chiefs, is secured for a much longer period than is
possible where the people are enlightened through the
medium of a civilized language, and thereby enabled to
realize that they constitute part of the civilized world.

‘Possibly the most noticeable sociological result of
the missionary’s teaching is found in the capacity
developed for co-operating persistently for a common
purpose — a result all the more remarkable when it is
remembered how foreign such a characteristic is to a
state of society similar to that in which the missionary
found the Cameroons people. When the missionaries
were withdrawn, this capacity was exemplified by the
mission-trained people taking in hand the work of pro-
viding meeting-places for themselves, and schools and
teaching for their children. Of the several buildings
erected by this community, one is capable of accommo-
dating some fifteen hundred people ; a work calling for
both organizing and technical ability of no mean order,

Summary of Gains 39 1

and proving the very, considerable capacity of a much-
despised people, and the effectiveness of the influences
that had been brought to bear upon them.

‘It cannot be claimed that forty years of mission
work, of the efforts of a few missionaries spread over
little more than a single generation, have resulted in the
upsetting of a social system as old as the civilization of
Egypt ; it may, however, be maintained, I believe, that —

‘ (a) Considering the conservative character of the
native institutions at Cameroons, and the self-interest of
the privileged few, the results are such as incontrovertibly
prove the value of missions as a force for the uplifting of
a degraded people.

‘ (b) To the missionary may be attributed the intro-
duction of a measure of civilization that has been greatly
to the advantage of commerce.

‘(c) The missionary, by constantly enunciating the
doctrine of the sanctity of human life, has contributed to
the formation of a sentiment that has prevented much
infanticide, and saved the lives of many who but for that
sentiment would have been sacrificed by the cruel
customs and superstitions of the country.

‘(d) The inculcation of better morals has resulted
in an increased birth-rate, and in the better condition
and higher esteem of women among the mission com-
munities.

‘ (e) The training of artisans, and the creation of a
large wage-earning class, have been important factors
in modifying the relationships of the two sections (masters
and slaves) into which society had been previously
divided.

‘(/) The spirit of self-reliance and resourcefulness
have been so developed in those who have come under
the influence of the missionaries, that when left without

392 Missions and Social Results

their teachers they were able to combine and arrange
for the construction of several meeting-places, and also
to organize schools for the instruction of their children.

‘It is not maintained that all the results in these
directions are the outcome of the missionaries’ unaided
efforts. The influence of wise-minded and kind-hearted
business men has often been lent with no small effect for
the furtherance of the good of the people.

‘ It is also only right to say, that, notwithstanding
much that savours of harshness, the progress of the
people at Cameroons towards a better condition of
things has been much more rapid under the German
administration of the past ten years than was possible
under native rule.

‘ Proceeding southwards from Cameroons some seven
hundred miles, where as yet missions have barely half
a century behind them, we arrive at the Congo and
the province of Angola, where they were commenced
four centuries ago. For more than two hundred years
these missions were sustained by a succession of
Portuguese, Italian and French priests ; but the native
Christians were eventually left to their own ministrations.

‘ Considerable advances had been made, native priests
had been educated and ordained, and in San Salvador
and the neighbourhood seven stone-built churches and a
cathedral had been erected, and the ruins of these
churches are incontrovertible evidence as to the sub-
stantial character of the original structures, and to the
great advance that had been made by the people some
three or four centuries ago. But, notwithstanding the
fact that Roman Catholicism was at one time a great
power in the country — its elaborate rituals always
appeal very forcibly to the native mind— it has left little

Priests and Burdens

393

result beyond the custom of giving Christian names to
boys, and, in the district of Ambaca, such an apprecia-
tion of the art of writing as to secure its being passed on
from father to son through several generations.

‘ It seems as though the lack of self-sustaining power
of the work initiated by the Roman Catholic Church
in the Congo, as compared with the self-sustaining
power of the enterprises of the Evangelical Churches
in other portions of the continent, might be referred to
the essential difference in their respective teaching. In
the one case the priest assumes the burden of his flock,
and in a great measure relieves them of responsi-
bility for their future well-being. In the other, the
burden of the weightiest affairs, those of the future and
of the soul of man, are thrown upon the individual, and
in dealing with these there is a development of cha-
racter and capacity for which there is no stimulus
afforded under a regime where the burdens are trans-
ferred to other shoulders.

* Besides the difficulty in distinguishing the respective
results of Mission work and of civilized government in
the matter of social advance on the Congo, there is the
fact that these forces have as yet been in operation but for
some sixteen years or so — a period too short, seeing the
conditions are such as are found to obtain, to allow of
much more than results in individual cases. There are,
however, very plainly in progress changes that have an
all-important bearing upon the future of the country.
The Government has issued laws against slave-raiding,
against killing for witchcraft, and against the burying of
slaves alive as part of the funeral ceremonies of free
men, and, so far as its powers go, prevents the con-
tinuance of these devastating practices.

‘ In places beyond the eye of the law the missionary

394 Missions and Social Results

is gaining an influence, and convincing the people, in a
certain measure, in favour of observing the law, and is
thus becoming year by year more successful in saving
the lives of poor victims who would otherwise be sacri-
ficed. The missionary, by the employment of free
labour, and by securing good results therefrom, demon-
strates the advantage of the system he pursues as
compared with that of slavery.

‘The advantages of monogamy as compared with
polygamy are also being demonstrated in the lives of
mission people — a much-needed lesson, for polygamy is
one of the great evils from which the country suffers.
Extra wives and slaves are practically the only invest-
ments for money gained by trading, and as a man’s
status is determined by the number of his wives, he goes
on buying them, even when he has already far more
than conduce to his comfort. By this system the old
men get the great proportion of young women into their
hands, and the young men have thus to be content with
somebody’s widow, who may happen to be for sale
cheap. Under such conditions promiscuity is greatly
fostered, and small families, or no families at all,
result. In fact, in the chief trading centres, where
most money is made, the children born are not equal to
the death-rate, and the population is only maintained
by the purchase of slaves. It may, however, be hoped
that when the people have been trained to build better
houses, and to appreciate the advantages of civilization,
they will be induced on the Congo, as elsewhere, to
spend money in other directions than in slaves or
superfluous wives.

‘Missions, by means of the technical training they
are furnishing, and by reason of the habits of industry
they are inculcating, are also contributing in no small

NATIVE CARPENTERS AT SAN SALVADOR.
Photo: Rev.J. S. Bowskill.

BRICKMAKING AT BOPOTO.

NATIVE BLACKSMITHS TRAINED BY THE BAPTIST MISSION,
UPPER CONGO.

Pernicious Idleness

395

measure to the future development of the people. The
Mission steamer “ Goodwill,” a vessel eighty-four feet in
length, is engineered and manned entirely by Congo
people ; printing-presses at San Salvador, Wathen, and
Lukolela are being worked by Congo people ; and they
have made and laid the bricks for school houses at
Stanley Pool and Bolobo. It is as important for the
missionary’s chief purpose as it is for the country that
habits of industry should be formed. It cannot be con-
ceived that Christianity should really influence the heart
of the uncivilized negro, and leave him content in the
midst of his old circumstances — his old unclean and
immoral surroundings. In countries where food is
plentiful, and where the labour involved in getting it is
furnished by the women, and where, as compared with
civilized countries, there is little or no need for houses,
fuel or clothing, the greater proportion of the male
population may be described as slothful and idle ; and,
consequently, increasingly vicious as they grow older.

* Those who have had experience of mission work in
Africa recognize how difficult it is for Church members
to maintain consistent lives, unless the old idleness is
exchanged for habits of industry, and have felt them-
selves justified in predicting a speedy downfall for those
who after a period of activity relapse into the idle ways
of their countrymen. Happily, while the combat with
idleness on the part of those who are just emerging out
of the old barbarism involves a most arduous struggle, it
is evident, from observations among children and grand-
children of those who in older fields have profited by
mission training, that the struggle, in their case, is
less serious. In fact, the increasing ability and aptitude
for the ways of civilized life manifested in the second
and third generations of those who have been subjected

396 Missions and Social Results

to the educational influences of a mission station, make
it difficult to realize that they are of the same race as
their untrained compatriots.

‘With respect to the inquiry concerning the con-
spicuous evils of the field with which I am acquainted, I
must say it is very difficult for me to specify the elements
which go to make up the great festering sore which
afflicts the whole body social, and that at many points
threatens its very existence. Polygamy, attended as it
is, in a country where there are no Zenanas, by most
flagrant immoralities, together with slavery and witch-
craft, and the entire lack of protection for life and
property apart from one’s own right hand, are so inti-
mately intertwined with and related to each other as to
make it difficult to define their sequence or comparative
importance.

* The country where there is little or no feeling of
right and wrong — where practically everything is “ right ”
that is not immediately attended by prohibitive con-
sequences, and where of necessity every man goes armed
— the resulting chaos is not to be described, hardly to be
conceived. The restraints of law and civilization are
beginning to be felt within the administrative range of
the Government ; but it will be long before these
restraints can do more than touch the edge of the sore
— they cannot, in the nature of things (history proves
the point), work the moral change needful for the re-
generation of the country and the perpetuation of the
race. Polygamy and slavery, and their attendant evils,
lead to death — and life is not of the law, but of the
Gospel.

‘Happily for the Upper Congo the importation of
spirituous liquors (for the present at least) is prohibited,
though on the lower river it is unrestrained, with the

397

The only Hope

result that gin and rum are there working their usual
course of demoralization and crime. A native who
acquires the habit of drinking spirits will work to satisfy
his craving, and for this reason some traders maintain
that they, as well as the missionaries, are making the
natives work. But the drink appetite kills every other
desire, and soon stultifies itself by destroying the power
to work, whereas the taste for better surroundings, more
healthy houses and suitable clothes, increases rather
than diminishes a man’s ability to satisfy his growing
desires.

4 But on the Upper and Lower Congo alike the people
have been debased by long centuries of immorality,
slavery, cruel superstitions, and by practically unceasing
internecine wars ; natural affections have been largely
destroyed, mere children learn early to delight in blood,
and later have no compunction about abandoning their
helpless parents, parents sell their children, and brothers
their own brethren. However, upon these things I need
not dilate. Every traveller’s story and every missionary’s
record tell of them till the heart sickens, and one almost
despairs of the possibility of a brighter future for a
country where such evils abound. Those who have not
realized the power of Christianity are not slow to say
there is no hope for these poor people ; but those who
have lived longest among them, and have laboured most
arduously for their uplifting, say there is hope — but from
one source alone.

4 The only work which can possibly succeed in
regenerating a people so degraded is that which has the
foundations of Christianity for its basis ; for, apart from
the regeneration that is quite outside the range of
mere civilization, there is no prospect that the tracts
devastated by slavery and depopulated by immorality

398 Missions and Social Results

will ever be repeopled, that the fertility of thousands of
abandoned valleys will ever be renewed, or that the
remnants of the people will ever be freed from the
bonds of superstitions even more cruel than those of
slavery, ere the race has brought upon itself the doom
that inevitably follows • such evils as those from which
it suffers, and disappears from the face of the earth.’

CHAPTER XVII

‘IN JOURNEYINGS OFTEN

Death of Grenfell’s Daughter Pattie— A ‘ Bolt from the Blue *
—Notice to quit Sargent Station— Changes and Death— A
Soldiers* Revolt— Progress of the Railway— Death of Mrs.
Scrivener — Proposed Prospecting Tour — Visit of M. Buis—
Natives sing 4 Lo, He comes’ — Breakdown of the * Leon XIII.*
and other Steamers— Interview with Vice-Governor Wangermee
— Arrival at the Lindi Falls— Posts attacked by Arabs — Miss
Grenfell’s Last Journey — Dangers of the River Channel —
Progress at Sargent Station— Salamo, a Native Christian Girl-
Translation Work.

‘ OURNEYINGS * are characteristic of almost every

J chapter of Grenfell’s missionary life ; but the well-
known apostolic phrase is specially appropriate to the
last years of his longest stay in Africa. Of many
‘ journeyings 5 only two can be spoken of as * pioneering 5
— his progress up the Lindi with Stapleton, in 1898,
and his extended voyage up the Aruwimi, in 1899, of
which he wrote a careful and elaborate account intended
for the press, but now published for the first time. His
longings were divided between the development of
spiritual work at Rolobo, and forward marches in the
direction of fulfilling Mr. Arthington’s plans. But the
material necessities of the Mission, the illnesses and
deaths of colleagues, held him to the drudgery of trans-
port service ; and he accepted manfully the will of God,
and did the present duty with self-effacing fidelity.
This business travelling was not all drudgery, as he

400 ‘In Journeyings often’

cheerfully confessed. There were quiet days upon the
dear old * Peace * when his boys were engineers, his wife
‘ chief mate,’ and no passengers present, to withdraw him
from his books, or divert his long, long thoughts.

It was during this period, and in the course of a
down-river voyage, that one of Grenfell’s greatest
sorrows overtook him. He had looked forward with
keenest interest to the outcoming of his daughter
Pattie, who had finished her education, and was
destined to join her parents in their Mission work in
Africa. She reached Bolobo in July, 1897, spent some
months there, and then went up with her father and
mother to Yakusu, where she remained a year, helping
Mrs. Stapleton in school-work, and displaying grace and
aptitude which gave large promise of future usefulness.
Early in March, 1899, while returning with her father
from Yakusu to Bolobo, Pattie developed a dangerous
fever, and it became a grave question whether she would
arrive at home alive.

And just when Grenfell, sick himself, was more than
ever anxious that the ‘ Peace ’ should do her best, her
engines failed, and he had to tear himself away from the
cabin to effect repairs. Then she grounded on a sand-
bank : then a night-storm broke upon her, threatening
wreck and death. At last the lame steamer, bearing
the distracted father and the dying girl, crept into
Bolobo, just in time. Pattie felt her mother’s arms
about her, gave one loving smile of recognition, and
sank into the arms of God.

The reader who shrinks from tears will be well-
advised to skip the letter in which Grenfell tells in
detail this intensely pathetic story. The loss of his
dear daughter, in whom so many fond and holy hopes
were centred, was a paralyzing blow; but he quickly

‘A Bolt from the Blue’ 4°i

braced himself for service, left the binding-up of his
broken heart to Him who fails not in this ministry, and
laboured on to make the comfort of God accessible to
those who knew it not.

‘ There’s no room for tears of weakness, in the blind eyes of
a Phemius,

Into work the poet kneads them, and he does not die till
then.’

Grenfell kneaded his tears into work, and though he
made no verses he achieved that higher poetry, the
music of which arises, not from the linking of melodious
words, but from the doing of deeds harmonious with the
will of God.

Early in 1897 ‘a bolt from the blue’ fell upon the
Mission, in the form of a notice from the State to quit
Sargent Station, Yakusu. The Rev. G. R. Pople,
Acting Secretary (in the absence of the Rev. Lawson
Forfeitt), secured six months’ grace, to enable him to
refer the question to Mr. Baynes and the Home
Committee.

On February 16 Grenfell writes to Mr. Hawkes from
Stanley Pool, stating that he has come down from
Bolobo to get mails and the latest news, and is going up
river to bring Messrs. White and Stephens from Yakusu.
Anent the notice to quit he says : Tam utterly astounded
at the State following such a “ line of policy,” after their
declaration in favour of strict investigation. Some people
say it is because the Administration is afraid of the light
that Protestant missionaries let in upon their proceedings.
It looks like it, though I cannot accept this yet, for at
heart I have always regarded the Administration as
sound ; but, if it is rotten enough to ask for light, and to
bar the window at the same time, I shall say there is no
hope for it. . . . What about Article VI of the General

402

‘In Joupneyings often ’

Act of the Berlin Conference ? Or is it a dead-letter, so
far as Britishers are concerned ? . . . I have written to
Mr. Baynes, and I am hoping he will bring such
pressure to bear as will result in our being free to move
forward. Boma throws the responsibility on Brussels,
so it is no use our trying to do anything out here.*

At this time Mr. Lawson Forfeitt was at home, and
in close consultation with Mr. Baynes on this matter. In
the end Mr. Baynes was able to cable to Mr. Pople
at Matadi, ‘ Brussels instructs Governor Mission keeps
Yakusu.’

In this letter Grenfell is also much concerned with
the preparations for his daughter’s coming out to the
Congo, upon leaving school at Sevenoaks.

To Mr. Hawkes.

s.s. ‘ Goodwill/ Stanley Pool, May 29.

‘ It is three months since I wrote you ! 'I’ve been
en route ever since, and shall not finish till the first
half of the year is nearly through. Out of the first
six months of 1897 I expect I shall have spent only
some six weeks at home, so if my letter-writing is all
in arrears it won’t be very wonderful.’

Enclosing a copy of his reply to Mr. Arthington,
concerning proposals for extension towards Lake Albert,
Grenfell says, referring to the difficulties in the way,
‘The Roman Catholic Administrations of foreign
countries are not favourable to Protestant progress.
The Pope pulls lots of strings, and I have reason to
believe he is very busy with Central African affairs.
The “Goodwill” lies moored within sight of the resi-
dences of two Roman Catholic Bishops ! . . .

‘ I told you in my February letter that I was going
up river, to bring Mr. and Mrs. White down ; but I
found Mr. Stephens also needed to recruit, in fact so ill

Soldiers’ Revolt

403

that I could not leave him there. So I hurried down to
Bopoto, and brought up Dodds to stay with Beedham,
and Field has since gone up in the “ Peace ” to stay with
Smith. On my way down river I heard of Mr. Roger
having been compelled to go home by reason of sickness,
and while at Bolobo I got news of Pople’s death ! So
you see we have been in the midst of changes and very
anxious times. Poor Mrs. Pople was confined three
weeks after her husband’s death ; her little son seems
to be getting on all right, but our latest news concerning
the mother is most grave, continued high fever and
weakness allowing but little hope for her recovery.’

Shortly after, both mother and child passed away.

To Miss Hawkes.

Stanley Pool, May 29.

‘ We had rather an exciting time of it at Stanley
Falls, for while we were there we got word of the revolt
of part of the soldiers forming Dhanis’s expedition to
the Nile. At first it was thought that some fifteen
hundred men were marching on the Falls Station to take
it ; so the officer in charge sent word to Sargent Station
(Yakusu), for the missionaries to hold themselves in
readiness to abandon the place, should they be attacked,
as he had not sufficient men even to defend his own
Station. Those available were set to work at once to
make it as strong a place as possible; but I feel sure
they could not have long held out against fifteen
hundred men. The steamer “Ville de Bruxelles” was
at the Falls at the time, and she was protected by
extemporized armour-plating and kept under steam,
ready for the worst if it should happen.

‘We got the first news of the trouble as we were
going down to Bopoto from Sargent Station to fetch up
Mr. Dodds ; but by the time we got back (we hurried

404 ‘In Journeyings often’

our best, you may imagine), the strain was lessening, for
there appeared to be indications that the revolted
soldiers were marching southwards towards Kasongo
and Nyangwe, and leaving the Falls on their right.
Three days later, scouts having come in with news that
this was really the case, the “ Ville de Bruxelles ” steamed
off down river, and we followed a few hours later.
There have been several lives lost, but how many is not
made known yet. Baron Dhanis’s brother is among
the dead.’

On June io Grenfell wrote to the Rev. Lawson
Forfeitt, who was still in England, congratulating him
on his progress towards health, and giving much
affectionate and fatherly counsel, culminating in the
strictly orthodox injunction that he should be reasonable,
and take his wife’s advice. He was also much gratified
by a bit of extra service which Mr. Forfeitt was permitted
to put in on his voyage home. The ship’s doctor was
seriously ill from the time of leaving Banana, and at the
captain’s request Mr. Forfeitt undertook the medical
service, which was exceptionally heavy that voyage.
For this he received a special letter of thanks from the
captain, and also one from the passengers and crew,
signed, ‘your grateful patients,’ the doctor’s signature
heading the list.

To Mr. Hawkes.

s.s. ‘Goodwill,3 Stanley Pool, July 3.

‘ Pattie duly arrived on the 1st, and all being well we
start on the 5 th for Bolobo, and hope to reach home on
the 8th. She has had a capital voyage, and come out * in
good order and condition,’ as the bills of lading say.
We are delighted to see her, and are very hopeful that
she may be quite a help and comfort to us. She has
already commenced to pick up the language, and seems

4°5

Two Congos

in earnest about it . . . Concerning Congo affairs I
imagine you are better informed than we are. There are
two Congos, one with all the paraphernalia of civilization,
ports, magistrates, judges, etc. ; and the other in the
pangs of evolution, and still in the dark. We are in the
former, and know very little of the latter. The question
is how to get order out of chaos, and how to let in the
light!’

To Mr. Baynes.

Bolobo, October 9.

‘ Enclosed you will find my reply to Mr. Arthington’s
last letter (suggesting a journey to Lake Albert). My
lazy, selfish self says, “ Have nothing to do with schemes
for pushing farther afield. Leave them to younger men.”
However, the more I think about them, less and less
does it become possible for me to refuse, should I be
called to take part in them. ... If the Committee give
their consent, I certainly dare not say “No.” . . . You
will have heard of the four baptisms we had here last
Sunday. We were over forty who sat down at the
Lord’s Table ! Our hearts were greatly cheered. God
continues to be good to us also in the matter of
health.’

To Miss Hawkes.

s.s. ‘Peace,’ Stanley Pool, November 21.

‘You will see from the heading of this that I am
travelling again in the good old “ Peace.” I’m all by
myself, for I left Patience at Bolobo with the child, and
Pattie was away in the “ Henry Reed ” for a visit to
friends on Lake Mantumba and at the Equator. We had
a letter from her the morning I left, and learned there-
from that she had been sea-sick (can one be sea-sick on
fresh water ?) both on going into and on coming out of
the Lake.

4o6 ‘In Journeyings often ’

* With the losses and sicknesses of the last year, you
will easily understand that my anxieties have neither
been few nor light, for the burden of making the needful
arrangements falls largely on my shoulders. . . . This
past year has been terribly trying for Europeans on the
Congo. The Government and traders have lost very
heavily, as well as Missions. The Baptist Missionary
Society has had no such series of breakdowns since our
“Black Year” 1887, when we lost six of our number in
seven months ! Of God's goodness it is not yet so bad as
that, and we pray that the present total of four losses
may not be increased. . . .

* We are expecting to have three or four weddings
among our young people at Christmas, so we shall have
exciting times, for the townsfolk turn up in great
numbers to see how the “Bambote” (as we are called)
manage these things. Getting married (and unmarried,
too, for the matter of that), are comparatively simple
and easy, after prices have been arranged, among the
natives, for they have nothing like the elaborate cere-
monies that characterize their funerals. . . .

‘ When one looks back, as I can, and remembers what
Bolobo was ten years ago, when we first commenced our
work here, one cannot but be encouraged. Of course
we wish progress had been greater, but still it is no
small thing that we have a Christian Church witnessing
for Christ in the midst of the terrible darkness that
prevails. Christ is being uplifted, and there are un-
doubted signs of many being drawn to Him. Of course
we have our disappointments ; but that so many
stand firm, when one considers how hard it is in such
circumstances, makes me thank God very, very sincerely,
and fills my heart with courage. . . . The Catholics are
putting forth great efforts. They have now two Bishops

An Awkward Restraint 407

and lots of missionaries and sisters. Their Stations are
much larger than ours. Staffs of two or three they
would count very small. They are most devoted people,
though, from our point of view, mistaken in their efforts.
They do but very little among the townsfolk, confining
themselves mainly to working among the orphans and
slaves that fall into their hands/

To Mr. Hawkes.

s.s. ‘Peace,’ Stanley Pool, November 28.

‘I came down river nine days ago to attend the
recent session of the Commission for the protection of
the natives. The proceedings have terminated, and I am
only waiting for signatures to enable us to get away. . . .
I expect there will be considerable influence brought
to bear against the renewal of the Commission after its
first term of two years, for which our powers were signed ;
for there can be little doubt that it is felt to be a very
awkward restraint upon many who were at one time
practically autocrats.’

To Miss Hawkes.

Bolobo, February 5, 1898.

‘ I expected to be away up river again by this time ;
but first of all Bungudi was sick, and my “ Peace”
engineer was needed for the “ Goodwill,” for I quite
intended going in the “ Peace,” and then again Patience
has been far from well. It is now six weeks since she
went down to the Pool for the sake of a change, and that
she might secure the advantage of Dr. Sims’ advice. I
had a letter from the doctor a few days ago ; he says he
cannot understand the fever that comes on every evening.
As soon as the “ Goodwill ” comes down river I shall go
down to the Pool. Grace is with her mother.

‘ Pattie is here keeping house for me. Happily,
Pattie is keeping very well ; she had a rather sharp

4°8 ‘In Journeyings often’

experience to commence with, but has been capital ever
since. She is picking up the native language very
quickly, and will soon speak fluently ; she is seldom
stuck for a word even now. She is quite an important
member of our teaching staff already, though, of course,
only in an honorary capacity at present.

4 I must have told you of Bungudi being the father
of a boy — he is now six months old. His poor wife knows
nothing of our fears of Bungudi having become affected
by the sleeping sickness, which has killed so many, and
for which nothing seems to be of any use. Doctor says
the symptoms for the present have disappeared ; but
our experience teaches us that they may recur at any
time.

4 We had two weddings the week before Christmas,
and are expecting tw'o others very shortly, and we are
getting quite a little village round our station. Some of
the natives (besides the poor witch folk who live with us
as refugees) want to come and build near us, so that
they may be free from the town life and its oppressions
—for Congo heathenism is very cruel. It is something
to be grateful for that our neighbours are having their
eyes opened even thus far. The Governor-General has
given me permission to appropriate Government land
for any of the people who want to join our more or less
civilized community. I have already measured off
twenty-five lots, and thirteen of these are now occupied
by nice clay-built houses that are quite a contrast to the
usual grass and mat shanties which the natives content
themselves with.

4 1 learn that the railway workmen are already at the
Pool, and that they expect the trains to begin to arrive
in a couple of months or so — and then for changes !
We are wondering as to how they may affect us.’

CARAVAN ROAD, CATARACT REGION, LOWER CONGO.

CONGO RAILWAY AND RIVER CONGO, NEAR MATADI,
Photos : Mr. L. Goffin, Brussels.

A Joyous going Henee 409

To Mr. Baynes.

Bolobo, March 16.

‘The blow we feared has fallen — our dear sister,
Mrs. Scrivener, is no more ! Day by day for the past
week we have been alternately buoyed up with the hope
of life, and cast down by approach of death, and now the
end has come ! God was very good to our sister, and
strengthened her very graciously for the going hence, by
the manifestation, in a very blessed manner, of His
presence and love ; and we, too, were all comforted by
the sweet assurance of peace with which she left us to
go to be with her “Dear Lord Jesus.” “I have no
pain ; ” “ Every doubt is gone ; ” and, “ All my old trust
has returned, for underneath are the Everlasting Arms ; ”
and, “ I am very happy,” were among the last words of
the last moments of her life, and they yield very blessed
memories for the sorrow-stricken husband, as well as for
us who were assembled for the last sad scene.

‘Our hearts are heavy for the loss we have sus-
tained, and also because our work is losing much-needed
help ; but we all rejoice at the blessed manifestation we
have had that our Lord is King — that He is conqueror
over death and the grave ; and, though we weep, we
praise Him for the joyous going hence of our sister, to
share in His Kingdom and victory, as well as for the
soul-sustaining vision that has been vouchsafed us of
His love and all-conquering might.’

To Mr. Hawkes.

s.s. ‘ Goodwill,’ Yakusu, May 10.

‘ You will observe from the heading of this that I am
“from home” — have been here for a fortnight, and
expect to stay three weeks more. For one thing, I am
staying till Field comes up in the “Peace,” to replace
Beedham, who has just gone down country, homeward-

4io 6 Iii Journeying® often’

bound. In the meantime I am serving as Stapleton’s
colleague, and taking the opportunity for visiting the
villages in the vicinity, with a view to finding out the
best “jumping-off place” for the Nile. You know, I
imagine, that Mr. Arthington is anxious I should start
off on a prospecting tour almost at once. He says he
has £ 17,000 to devote to his scheme, which includes a
steamer for Lake Albert. I’m not at all pushing the
matter — it seems to be pushing me. I’ve just completed
estimates and order sheets for the equipment, so that
the Committee may put the matters in hand without
further delay, should they decide upon pushing eastwards.

‘ If I thought any one else stood in as good a position
for making a success of the prospective journey as
myself, I would gladly back out in his favour, for my
poor old body is weak enough to be quite content to be
occupied with a less arduous enterprise. However, I am
glad to say the spirit will be more than willing, if God
but points the way. ... You say you would have liked
to have had a chat with me at times — not more than
I should have liked a chat with your own good self,
I assure you. But, so far as one can see, there is not
much prospect of it at present God has been very, very
good in sparing me so long, and as one gets older even
the near future becomes increasingly uncertain, especially
on the Congo. When the necessity for my going to
England arises, I shall pack up at once — it would not
take me long ; but I feel my place is here for the time
being. As long as I can help things forward on the
Congo, I feel I must not turn my back on it. When
I’m played out, I shall start for the old country (if I
may). I know, as you say, it would do me good — it
would do me good more ways than one ; but still, the
time is not yet.’

The Burgomaster’s Visit 41 1

To the Rev. J. Howell.

Yakusu, June 5.

‘ I am glad you have been able to visit the people at
the back, and only wish I felt we were strong enough to
commence a campaign among the people to the east of
Bolobo.

* Here the country seems to be opening up most
promisingly. Stapleton and I have been up the Lindi
to beyond the third cataract. Lots of people !

‘We have just finished roofing in a new house of the
same size as White’s, by way of making some provision
for the Stephens and my daughter in the meantime.’

To Mr. Baynes.

Bolobo, September 3.

‘ The Burgomaster of Brussels, M. Buis, called here,
a few days ago, on his return from the Falls. He is a
wonderfully keen observer, and I expect will make a
" few remarks ” when he reaches home. At Bolobo he
took the greatest interest in our work, and put some
wonderfully discriminating questions as to our results.
He wanted to know where the Bangala people were,
when he saw the miserable towns which to-day are the
homes of this one-time important section of the popu-
lation. He spoke enthusiastically of the Falls district
and its prospects. He recognizes that the Congo fleet
is not big enough to supply the needful traffic for
keeping the railway employed. To us and our work
he seemed very sympathetic and appreciative, and
allowed that “perhaps, after all, your methods are right.”
This, when I was referring to the essential difference of
the modes adopted by the Belgian missionaries and our-
selves, and especially to the fact that while they secured
a large number of children, and tried to transform
the whole lot into a new and separate community, we

412

‘In Journeyings often ’

brought our influence to bear on a wide circle, and chose
therefrom the promising ones, and those who had really
come under the influence of the truths we tried to teach.’

To Miss Hawkes.

Bolobo, October 21.

‘ I confess I should be glad to hear I had to go away
for awhile on this new expedition. It would almost be
as good as a holiday for me, for I should be out of reach
of the post-bags up and down river, and they generally
bring me something to think seriously about. Just now
I have heard that Mr. Jeffery, who was on his way up to
Yakusu, was so sick by the time he reached Bopoto
that Mr. Millman had to take his place, and go on in his
stead. I also hear from Mr. Stapleton that he is no
better — that we must make arrangements for relieving
him early next year. And also I have had news from
Mr. Howell, who is running the steamer just now, that
the boiler tubes are so bad that it will be a marvel if
he is able to reach the Falls ! I’ve just written out an
order for a complete new set of tubes, to go off at once
— and so on, and so on, till I’m quite dumpy. Still,
God is good ! and I know He reigns. I’ll have a good
sleep, and light always comes in the morning ! ’

To Mr. Baynes.

s.s. c Peace,’ Stanley Pool, December 5.

‘I am greatly distressed that during the year so
nearly spent no single communication of mine, apart
from those concerning money or goods, has elicited any
response from the Mission House. It has been a year
peculiarly full of anxieties, and my heart is very heavy,
and now, to add to my sorrow, I am told of Dr. Biss’s
very pessimistic report concerning Bentley’s health.
The good Lord spare us all the grief that would
come of Bentley’s non-return to the Congo ! ’

The Downward Pull

413

To Mr. Hawkes.

Bolobo, December 12.

4 Thank you very much for the coming Bible — it is
the sort of thing I have wanted to order for some time.
It was due at the Pool a few days after I left on the 6th,
and will come up by next “ Goodwill,” early in February.
By that time I shall be at Stanley Falls, I expect — am
going in the “Peace,” in which steamer I made the
journey to the Pool to which I have referred. She is
getting quite an old craft now, but she goes as well as
ever she did, and I like her better than the “ Goodwill ”
for some things.

‘ Dr. Glover said a very true thing in one of his recent
speeches (referring to missionary effort) : “ Remember
you cannot pull people up without being pulled down.”
I’m afraid Pve been pulled down a very long way, and
quite unfitted for the amenities and restraints of civilized
life. However, I’m still so far above these poor folk that
I can keep on pulling for some time to come (if God
only helps me), without being dragged down to the
Central African level. So I am not giving up hope of
being useful in some degree for some time yet. . . .

‘Our Committee have sent me no further word
concerning the proposal to push north-eastwards. It
seems to me the Church Missionary Society may be
counted as occupying the Lake Albert and the Nile.

‘ The work to our hands is that immediately to the
north of our Bopoto and Yakusu Stations, that is, in the
Bahr-el-Ghazel. If I had not been tied to Bolobo by
our shorthandedness, I should have been pushing in
that direction by this time. Our up-river staff at the
present moment counts but eleven on the field, out of a
nominal nineteen! You good folk had better set to
work and pray for me, if I’m to be saved from despair.

4 h ‘In Journeying^ often ’

You who know me, and would like to see me again, do
you think I’m likely to leave, so long as my going
would make the ninth gap in our narrow ranks ?

4 However, I won’t get into the dumps — how can I
when as I am writing this there are over forty young
folk squatting round on the floor of the next room
singing a translation of “Lo, He comes with clouds
descending,” to the tune 44 Calcutta,” with a swing that
makes my poor old heart beat fast again with the
assurance of our blessed hope !

4 It is a fortnight since I wrote the earlier part of
this letter, and now it is New Year’s Day, and I feel I
must not let it pass without closing your letter, and
sending you and yours, on behalf of Patience and
myself, the sincerest of good wishes for 1899. The
Lord be very gracious to you, and bless you all !

4 We have commenced the year by a baptismal
service, whereby five have been added to our Church.
God be thanked for this, and for blessings too many to
count ! . . . Christmas Day was somewhat dismal, for we
spent the greater part of it extemporizing a smallpox
hospital for the four cases that had declared themselves
the evening previous, and for the others threatening.
Happily, after two more went down we had no further
cases — though we are by no means out of the wood yet.’

To Mr. Baynes.

Bolobo, January 10, 1899.

4 1 have most of my things on board the 44 Goodwill,”
in readiness for a start up river early to-morrow. . . .
Mr. Howell has left us this afternoon in the 44 Peace,” to
go to the assistance of the 44 Leon XIII.” (the new stern-
wheel steamer of the French Mission), which has broken
down for the second time at a point about ten miles up
stream from Bolobo. The shaft broke right in two just

Steamer Disasters

415

a week ago, and we brought her down alongside the
“ Goodwill,” and helped them make what we all felt was
a good repair. They left our beach this morning at
daylight, and at noon we were surprised to see one of
the Fathers reappear in a canoe, with the news that the
week’s hard work had proved in vain.

‘ The Bishop Augouard (one of my earliest Congo
friends) had worked three days consecutively at our
lathe, and the Father and the two Brothers associated
with the Bishop in the steamer work (the Bishop is
captain) had all worked from daylight to dark with
scarcely a break during the whole of the time, and it
has been a terrible disappointment to them to have to
forego the voyage they had about half finished. They
were on their way to found a new station up the Alima.
The “Leon XIII.” cannot move of herself again till a
new shaft arrives from Europe ; it is possible the “ Peace ”
may tow her down to Brazzaville. . . .

4 Two days ago the “ Roi des Beiges,” a steamer
about twice the size of the “ Goodwill,” passed Bolobo,
being towed by the “Brabant” — hopelessly broken
down. Early last month the “ Ville de Paris ” — till July
last the largest steamer on the river — broke down two
days out from the Pool, though she had only just come
out of the repairing yard, after being two months in
hand. She is still “ tied up ” alongside the forest, wait-
ing for new pieces from Leopoldville to enable her to
move ! Two months ago one of the finest steamers of
the State fleet was hopelessly lost on the Kasai, having
struck a reef and foundered. This gruesome list of
accidents may not be of particular interest, but it will
give you some idea of the risks and difficulty of
steamer work on the Upper Congo, and of the strain
involved on the part of those who undertake it, and at

416 ‘In Journeyings often’

the same time emphasize the need that exists for the
re-enforcement of our steamer staff.’

To Mr. Baynes.

s.s. ‘ Goodwill,’ Monsembe, January 23.

* Yours of November 30 overtook me at Irebo, and
as I am staying here to-day to plug some more boiler
tubes that have given way, I take the opportunity of
thanking you very sincerely for all the trouble you have
taken in the matter of my proposed journey. I was
hopeful the Government would have seen no objection,
or, at any rate, have been unwilling to formulate an
objection, and that the way might have been clear.

* Under the circumstances, and especially now that
you have endorsed the policy of doing the journey a
“ bit at a time,” I shall look forward to beginning at the
earliest possible opportunity. Whether I can do any-
thing this voyage is not at all clear, for, having come up
in the “ Goodwill ” instead of the “ Peace,” the interests
of the work in general will not allow of my delaying the
larger steamer, as I should have been more or less free
to have done, had I come in the smaller one. Then,
again, there is the question of leaving all the steamer
work at Bolobo to Mr. Howell, who is still very busy
with his house. . . .

‘ I must again thank you for kind references to my
home-coming ; but I am not thinking at all of paying a
visit to the old country till the need is much more
pressing than just now. I should, however, be greatly
cheered if the Committee were able to make such
arrangements as would release me from my present
active participation in steamer work, say for a year, or a
year and a half, and thus set me free for “ forward work ”
for that time. No furlough would be more agreeable
than would be afforded by such a change, if the money

Interview with Governor 417

for a small caravan and travelling expenses could be
found . . .

'Vice-Governor Wangermee, who is here in the
“ Princess Clementine,” has just asked me whether or not
I had finished the survey upon which I was engaged, and
I have told him that I was sending the sheets to you, and
that I thought you would place them at the disposal of
the State. They might be prepared to make some sort
of a reproduction, with a view to exhibition at Paris next
year, perhaps. . . .

'The Governor, with whom I have just had an
interview, opened the question of my proposed journey
— he has evidently been informed from Brussels. In
support of the position maintained by the Central
Government in communications with yourself, he
instanced the troubles to the south, which I told him
were well off my proposed line, also that Mr. Lloyd,
of the Church Missionary Society, had come through
from Uganda in the most peaceful way. “Well,” said
the Governor, “address yourself to your friend the
Commissaire of the District — he will do all he can for
you, and help you forward, if the state of the country
will only permit him so to do.”

'I sincerely hope I may soon be free to make a
serious attempt. As yet, as you can see, it is impossible
for me to leave for anything like a prolonged absence.
. . . The Governor inquired very kindly for the latest
news of Mr. Bentley’s health, and is most sympathetic.
I trust things may prove not to be so bad as we feared.
Bentley wrote me quite hopefully soon after his going
to Bournemouth. The good Lord graciously preserve
him to us ! for we sadly need his presence. Recent
events at Wathen seem to especially call for his
experience and guiding tact.’

418 ‘In Journeyings often’

To Mr. Baynes.

Sargent Station, Yakusu, February 13.

‘You will be glad to know that Mr. Jeffery is much
better, and that he is improving every day. Mr.
Millman is in capital health. My daughter also is well
and happy, and, I am glad to believe, is rendering useful
service here at the front. The school work is most
encouraging, and capable of a development that should
have a most important bearing upon the future of the
coming capital of Central Africa.

* The way is all clear for our making a journey to a
point some five marches in advance of the point reached
by Mr. Stapleton and myself last year, and all being
well we start in the morning. ... I forget whether I
told you that William Forfeitt was quite content at the
prospect of working without a colleague for awhile. He
feels it would be better not to call in mere temporary
help, to the upsetting of some one else’s plans, if it is
possible to do without. It did my heart good to find
him facing the emergency so bravely, and with so true
an appreciation of the best course for the work as a
whole ! He runs no risks, for he has friends on all
sides. All the same, the Kirklands should come out
as early as the doctor will allow. ... I have nothing
in the way of personal “ apprehensions,” for, whatever
happens, both Arabs and natives know us for peaceful
friends, and I feel sure we have nothing to fear.’

To Robert Arthington, Esq., Falmouth.

Sargent Station, Lindi Mouth, near Stanley Falls, February 25, 1899.

‘ I am glad to report having been able, in company
with Mr. Stapleton, to make another journey in the
direction to which our attention has so long been
turned. We reached the Lindi Falls, where Lieut

State going too Fast 419

Verstraeten lost his canoe and some of his men in
descending the river in May last. To reach this
point, where we found navigation quite barred, we did
six hours’ marching overland, and forty-two hours by
water in canoes. I estimate the distance covered as
about 130 miles, but that the furthest point eastwards
was not much more than 26° 5' E. long. By observa-
tion our latitude was a few seconds further North than
i° 28'. Roughly speaking, it may be said that we
covered one-fourth of the distance from this place to
Lake Albert.

‘ The route is as follows : —

10 hours by canoe to foot of rapids,

6 hours by land to beyond rapids,

32 hours by canoe to the commencement of the
Lindi Falls.

* It is hoped that a portage of four hours will enable
loads to pass the Falls and reach another navigable
stretch, extending to a point say half-way between the
Congo and the Nile waterways.

‘Just now it would appear as though the State were
going too fast for its power, and a crop of difficulties, in
addition to the big difficulties of the Batetela revolt, is
springing up over quite a wide area.

‘On January 26 Lieut. Vanderschick, stationed on
the Lindi, at a point about eighty miles beyond the
Falls which we reached, was killed by the Arabs, and
his Station looted. On the 17th of this month, and two
days before we reached the Falls, another party attacked
the Station of Bafwaboli, some twenty-five miles south
of the place where we turned back. Rumours, that
seemed to be well authenticated, reported successful
attacks on posts on the Aruwimi, but as yet they have
not been confirmed. Happily, the attack on Bafwaboli

420 ‘In Journeyings often’

was repulsed, though the Arabs secured several women
and children as prisoners. They lost ten, at least, of
their fighting men.

' On coming up river a month ago, I made arrange-
ments to go up the Aruwimi as far as Yambuya, if
the water was high enough to allow of my doing so ;
and then to proceed by canoe as far as Banalya, to
which place communication seemed to be fairly well
assured. If I am unable to carry out this plan, I am
hoping to make another journey in the “ Peace ” in a
few months’ time, and you may rely upon my sending
you an early account, if I may have any success to
report.

4 The only route not known to be barred is that by
the Aruwimi. If the present unrest continues to grow,
I shall feel that, although it is the Lord’s will that these
countries should be opened up for the messengers of the
Gospel of Peace, the time is not yet. Our hearts have
been refreshed and our spirits greatly encouraged by
the fact that during this journey we have been able to
speak the Glorious Name and message where they have
never before been heard. The joy of this more than
pays for the time and trouble spent in searching for a
way north-eastwards. May I have more grace and
ability for taking advantage of these opportunities, and
the guidance of the Holy Spirit in all things.

‘P.S. — My heart was greatly cheered by your gift
for the school at this place ; it was most opportune.
We have already three of the Arab children here for
training, and can have a big school of them as soon as
we are ready. This in addition to the hundred and
more young people who come daily from the village.’

A Sorrowful Voyage 42 1

To Mr. Hawkes.

Bolobo, April 16.

‘ It is just a month since we buried our dear Pattie,
and, it has been a sad day. It has been a blow, this
loss of ours, that has hit us very hard. So far as we
could judge, she was entering upon a career of great
usefulness, with no small promise of being happy in it,
and of making others happy, too ; and yet she has been
called hence ! My heart is very heavy, but I dare not
complain, much as I miss her presence and help.

‘We left Sargent Station, Pattie and I, in the
“Goodwill” on the last day of February, and though
for a day or two she was not very well, we were not at
all alarmed. On March 13 we met the “Peace” at
Lulanga, with four passengers aboard, and there
changed into the smaller steamer, so as to give our
friends (Lawson Forfeitt and his wife, and Mr. and
Mrs. Roger, and Howell as captain) the advantage of
the bigger craft. On the 15th we went into Lake
Mantumba, and spent a very happy day with our
friends the Clarks (of the American Mission), Pattie
sleeping on shore. I was not feeling very well, so went
on board and to bed before sundown, leaving Pattie,
with the arrangement that she was to be brought off
soon after sunrise. Soon after six we were under way,
Pattie to all appearance being quite well. However,
we were not more than an hour on our way towards the
other side of the lake before she began to shake, with
all the symptoms of malarial fever ; but I had no fear
that it was more serious than the attacks to which we
are all liable from time to time, blacks as well as whites,
on the Congo. We got hot-water bottles, blankets and
physic, and went through the usual routine, but, instead
of its being a case of the ordinary malarial type, it

422

‘ In Journeyings often ’

had declared itself most pronouncedly by noon as
haematuric fever.

‘ Pattie then knew how grave the case was, but she
said, “ Don’t trouble, dear father ; I’m not afraid,” and
bore up most bravely through all the distressing
symptoms with which this fever is accompanied.
Naturally, my one idea was to get her to her mother
as early as possible ; and under ordinary circumstances
we might hope to reach Bolobo the following day. But
do what I would I failed to get the “ Peace ” along at
anything like her normal speed ; however, I felt it was
better to keep on going as long as it was daylight,
rather than lose time by stopping to overhaul the
engines.

‘As soon as the sun had set and we had “tied up,”
I set to work and took the slide valve out of one engine
and reset it, and put new piston-rings in the other, in
the hope that things would go better on the morrow.

‘After a few hours of troubled rest the morning came ;
but we were hardly under way before we had run on a
sandbank, and you can imagine something of what a
miserable hour it was that I spent in directing the
efforts of our crew in the water, in pushing the “ Peace ”
into the channel again ; also, how bad I felt, when I
realized that after all she was steaming no better. We
pushed on as well as we could and as late as we dared,
and then anchored in what I felt was an exposed
position ; but as it was too late to search for better we
hoped for good weather, and started the men off to cut
firewood by the light of the moon.

‘ Pattie was so ill by this time that I did not think of
going to bed, and did my best to wait upon her through
the night. Happily, she had two good faithful girls,
who did their best, and upon whom she had to rely

Mashiko’s Return

423

when I was looking after the “Peace.” About 3 a.m.
on the 1 8th, the thunder that had been rumbling more
or less through the night became pretty continuous, and
by four o’clock a regular storm burst upon us.

* After a lull, and by the time day began to break,
the storm was upon us again with renewed and even
greater force, blowing a lot of things overboard, and
knocking us about so severely that one stanchion was
broken and several badly bent. I feared at one time
that the cabin might be carried away, but it held on,
and after awhile the wind fell and the sky cleared. We
spent some time in putting things straight a bit, and in
attempting to save some of the things blown overboard,
but were too eager to get on to allow of more than the
absolutely needful delay. By eight o’clock we were under
steam again, but going, oh, so slowly ! We ought to
have been at Bolobo by this, but it was not till two
hours after sunset that we sighted the lights on the
beach.

‘ As the news of “ Mashiko’s ” (Pattie’s) return had
preceded us, there was a most enthusiastic crowd waiting
our arrival, and the welcome was literally a deafening
one. But the fact that Mashiko was sick soon spread,
and then in the face of such a crowd the stillness
became almost as trying as their shouts had been.

‘ Patience was soon on board, but poor Pattie was
too weak to more than smile in recognition of her
mother ; but we were full of hope that she yet might
rally. We carried her up to the house on the bed upon
which she was lying, and got her into a hot pack (as
recommended by most recent experience of specialists),
but neither pack nor restoratives were of any use, and
the end came a couple of hours later, and left Patience
and myself with untellably heavy hearts. Still, we

424 ‘In Journeyings often’

thank God for the memories we have of our dear child,
and for the assurance we have that she has safely
reached the haven to which we have so long been
bending our course.

‘ It is a month now since it all took place, and yet
this is but the third time I’ve tried to write of it. I
shall try to tell something of the same tenor to Lizzie,
and then quit the task.

‘Yesterday I returned from Stanley Pool, having
taken Patience with me a fortnight ago on my journey
there, to arrange some business matters with the State
that had cropped up during my absence. While at the
Pool the Bible (five volumes) came to hand. It is just
what I wanted, and I am yours very gratefully. The
book Lily so kindly sent for Pattie I am sending to
Carrie.’

To Mr. Hawkes.

s.s. 1 Peace,’ Arthington Station, Stanley Pool, July n.

‘ I came down from Bolobo to meet our reinforce-
ments, the Kirklands, Adams and Sutton Smith, who
duly arrived on the 8th, and am now on the point of
starting up river again, the fires having been lighted on
the “ Peace.” . . . Patties death has indeed been a
sorrow for us, and Patience, who was ailing before, is, I
fear, seriously affected for the worse by it ! She has
been compelled to keep to her bed several times of late,
for short spells of a week or so together. The news of
Gertrude’s illness has also added to her distress. Her
cry was, “ Pattie only came home just in time for me to
see her die, and now Gertrude will die without my even
seeing her ! ” Had the news of Gertrude’s illness
reached us a few days before the Stapletons left instead
of after, Patience would have accompanied them to

Imprisoned by Low Water 425

England, taking Grace with her. Happily, recent letters
have removed the great anxiety on Gertrude’s account.
It is impossible for me to think of leaving Congo till
further help arrives ; but Mr. Baynes is really in earnest
about my coming home, and is trying to get help, and
the probabilities are that you may see me next spring.
Patience knows it is risky for her to go (she must not
attempt to face English cold), but is prepared to face
almost anything, that she may see Gertrude again, and
if she is at all well enough, you may expect to see
her also.

1 1 am going up river with Sutton Smith, to induct
him at Yakusu, and expect to make one more run before
finishing my going to and fro for this time. Of course
I’ve lots of routine work to do, and many things to
bring to a focus before I can leave.5

To Mrs. Greenhough.

s.s. ‘ Peace,’ Sargent Station, Yakusu, September 13.

‘ J ust now I am practically imprisoned by the unusual
fall of the river, and I am taking advantage of the fact
by getting some letter-writing done that I have long had
in view. We very narrowly escaped being kept below
the reef that nearly bars the channel of the river some
four miles west of this Station. It cost us more than an
hour’s very careful steaming, and no small amount of
anxiety, to thread our way between the mile or so of
jagged rocks which at one time must have made an
impassable cataract at this point. Now, having got
safely through, I am going to wait for the river to rise
two or three feet before trying to return ; for it is not
nearly so easy to pick one’s way when going down
stream as when running against it Normally the
current is not much more than two or three miles an

426 ‘In Journeyings often’

hour, but where the rocks block so much of the water-
way the rate is increased to five or six, and the danger
is so much the greater. The last State steamer
that passed down tore quite a big hole in her hull at
this place, and had to discharge all her cargo before
she could effect the needful repairs on a sandbank,
a little below.

4 Coming back to this place, where our daughter
spent the happiest year of her life, naturally awakens
sad memories, and none of them more sad than the fact
that for two out of her three last days she was counting
the hours that must elapse before seeing her mother,
and that, do what we would, we could only get the
steamer to go a little more than half-speed, and so only
managed to get home when it was too late for her to do
more than give her mother one little smile of loving
recognition — not a single word ! Poor mother was
simply overwhelmed, and had far from recovered from
the shock when I left her early last month to come up
here. In fact, the whole sorrow had been opened up
afresh by the news of our second daughter’s illness in
England, which I had just previously brought up from
the Pool. . . .

‘ Sargent Station is slowly developing. A really
good dwelling-house is now practically finished, and
we are engaged in getting out the foundations of a
school yo feet by 30, and of a second dwelling-house
50 by 20. These are to be of brick, and if the better
grade of clay required only holds out, they will be
roofed with tiles. Mr. Roger, who came here to tide us
over the emergency caused by the home-going of Mr.
and Mrs. Stapleton and Mr. Jeffery, is devoting himself
very largely to this work, and under his care the school-
boys have already made some 40,000 bricks. They go

A FLEET OF CANOE DWELLINGS, Isangi, Lomami River, 1891,
Photo : Rev. Wm. Forfeitt.

Photo ]

STANLEY FALLS.

[Rev. Wm. Forfeitt •

Story of Salamo 427

to school part of the day and work the rest, and seem to
be quite proud of the part they are playing in the
replacing of their present clay-walled school by a much
more imposing edifice in brick.

'The scholars in attendance average nearly ninety,
two-thirds are boys and one-third girls. At the service
last Sunday about 150 were present. One of Mr.
Stapleton’s Monsembe helpers having married Salamo,
who is a native of these parts, and both being Christians,
we have now a native Christian household on the place
— an object-lesson of the first importance. Salamo was
stolen from her home some years ago by the Arabs,
when they were masters of the country, and later came
into the hands of the State, and through them to us.
Under Mrs. Stapleton’s care Salamo has grown up to be
one of the most promising Congo Christians in our
ranks, a most interesting and original character. A year
and a half or so ago I took her some fifty miles down
river, for her first visit to her home since she had been
stolen thence by the Arabs. It was only upon coming
up here with Mrs. Stapleton, some few months before,
that she discovered her people. Not having forgotten
her language, she is quite an important personage on the
Station, being the principal interpreter, and in that
capacity takes part as yet in all the services. But, what
is better still, she interprets Christianity by her daily
life among the people in a manner that is more eloquent
than words. The Lord bless Salamo, and send us more
Christians like her !

‘ Working through interpreters is slow work, but
our brethren here are pushing forward the collection of
a vocabulary and the outlines of the grammar. Mr.
Stapleton has already made considerable advance in
this direction, and Mr. Millman has commenced some

428 ‘In Journeyings often ’

tentative translation work for use in the school. Mr.
Sutton Smith — whose journey hither has been the
principal reason for my present visit — having on the way
up river secured the help of one of our Bolobo work-
boys who speaks the language of this place, has already
made some progress, and is now bending very seriously
to it on the spot.

‘ The proposed railway towards Lake Albert, for
which the engineers are already surveying, opens up
wide possibilities in the near future. It seems to me
our Society ought to push on and occupy a point about
half-way, say two hundred miles from here, at a point
where it is proposed for the railway to cross the Ituri,
and thence, as occasion may offer, move northward
towards the Bahr-el-Ghazal. With the coming £100,000
per annum this should certainly be possible. Would not
such an item in our programme be a powerful argument
towards getting the money ?

* 1 dare say you have heard that it is likely I shall
visit the old country next year. As soon as the way is
clear I shall pack up. The Committee wanted me to
come this year, but it has been impossible. I shall be
very glad of a holiday, when the time comes for my
getting one, for I am beginning to feel that I need both
a rest and a change/

Before returning down river, Grenfell found the
opportunity, which had been denied him in 1898, of
ascending the Aruwimi, and his letter to Mr. Baynes
describing this journey, dated Stanley Pool, November
25, will constitute the next chapter. Three days later
he wrote to Mr. Hawkes : ‘By the end of the week I
hope to be at Bolobo once more, and to finish a voyage
which practically commenced on July 5 ; for since that
time I’ve been going to and fro almost continually, and

A Stranger to Home 429

)

with never more than a few days’ rest here and there.
The consequence is that my letter-writing is all behind-
hand, and that I am almost a stranger on my own
Station. Patience and Gracie had not seen home for
more than three months. . .

CHAPTER XVIII

UP THE ARUWIMI

Lack of Rain causes Low Water in the Congo — Scarcity of Food —
A Slave Ransomed — Coffee Plantations — Population of River
District— Arab Raids— The Chief Pitika receives a ‘ Rating ’ —
Strategic Position of Villages— Canoes on the Aruwimi— Mode
of Poling— The Rapids— Paint and Water— The Current—
Baluti’s Home-coming— Major Barttelot’s Grave— Banalya
Station— A Native Blacksmith’s Shop — Native Bellows— Car-
penters and their Tools— Basket-weaving— Game — Houses— A
Blind Youth — The Chief Pangani — Iron-smelting — Popoie
—Crocodiles— An • Aged Chief— The Return Journey— The
Character of the Natives.

RENFELL’S account of his journey . up the

V_J Aruwimi was addressed to Mr. Baynes from
the s.s. ‘ Goodwill,’ Arthington Station, Stanley Pool, on
November 25, 1899.

‘ I have ’ the letter ran, 4 already informed you of
my having made a journey for some distance up the
Aruwimi River during the course of the past month.
The water was exceptionally low, but I was able to pass
the rapids in face of the camp made by Stanley when he
went to the relief of Emin Pasha in 1887 ; though, seeing
the “ Peace ” was definitely stopped by the next rapids,
a mile or so beyond, the advantage gained was barely
worth the risk and the anxiety involved in piloting our
craft between the rocks.

‘ I have never seen the Congo so low as during this
past season, and this, together with the unprecedentedly
low Nile announced by our last mails, must be taken as

Finding a Cousin 431

evidence of the lack of rain over the basins of both rivers
— no small share of the centre of the continent I fear
it means hard times for us, as well as for the Egyptians,
for already, as far down the Congo as Bolobo, and also
this place (Stanley Pool), food is dear and scarce. At
Bolobo it would have gone hard with us but for the rice
we had in store ; and while here we have been compelled
to resort to some extent to rice imported via Europe.
The difficulty is accentuated by the coming of a score or
so of new commercial enterprises to this neighbourhood,
and, so far as one can judge, the difficulties before us
are more serious than any we have yet encountered
from scarcity of food supplies. But this is quite apart
from the Aruwimi journey, of which I set out to tell
you ; and I may at once say that so far as food was con-
cerned we had not the slightest trouble while we were in
that region. Neither had we trouble from any other
cause, for everything was arranged for us in the most
complete and satisfactory manner by the officers and
agents of the State with whom we were brought into
contact during a journey of some 270 miles up stream,
as also on our return.

‘ The first ninety miles or so we covered in the “Peace”
without incident, unless one counts a tornado which
compelled us to “ lie to ” for three hours, and the
shooting of a wild boar as it was crossing the river, at
the cost of another half-hour’s delay, for which we were
well repaid by some capital meat.

‘ I ought, possibly, to count as an “ incident ” the fact
that near the mouth of the river our engineer found one
of his cousins in the hands of a chief who is hostile to
his tribe, but who was willing to release the said cousin
upon payment of her market value as a wife or slave.
After considerable negotiations the ransom was fixed, and

432

Up the Aruwimi

the young woman being brought on board the following
morning, the needful calico and brass wire was duly
paid ; and towards evening of the same day, to her
great delight, and the surprise of her friends, she found
herself among her people again, after having been practi-
cally a prisoner for nearly a year.

‘ On the Lower Aruwimi, that is, the section navigable
by light-draught steamers, I found the people much more
settled and tranquil than on my previous visit of five
years ago. I judge they number some twenty thousand
in the villages lining the river-bank. The four large
coffee plantations in course of development by the
Government furnish employment for a great many
of these ; the raising of food stuffs and furnishing of
paddlers for transport canoes keep the others more
or less busy.

‘The india rubber is mostly collected in the forests
at some distance from the river by people of the
interior ; but the Aruwimi district does not appear to
be populous enough, however rich the forests may be,
to seriously contribute to the rubber harvest of the
Congo.

‘ The Upper Aruwimi, up to the point from which I
turned back, is not so populous as the river below
Yambuya. I think ten thousand people would be a
liberal estimate for the villages along the 180 miles or so
I traversed in canoes. Here and there were paths leading
to villages at some distance from the river-banks, but
these villages were not larger or more important than
those on the river itself. It is very evident, however,
that the population is much less than it was some ten
years ago, before the advent of the Arabs. The ruins
of the old Arab posts or stations are still traceable at
many points, as were the evidences of very considerable

Survival of the Fittest 433

native villages having at one time existed in the neigh-
bourhood of these posts.

‘ However, if the people are not now very numerous,
they are exceptionally vigorous and capable, and so in
these respects in some measure make up for their
fewness. It is evidently a case of the “ survival of the
fittest,” and the fittest having survived the Arab
devastation, which in some seven years reduced this
once populous country to a mere wilderness, have
now commenced to re-occupy their old villages and
plantations.

‘It was in 1893 that the Arabs received their first
great blow on the Western Aruwimi, when they were
driven out of Popoie. After this followed a time of
great unsettlement ; but during the past two or three
years the work of restoration has been going on apace.
Some of the native chiefs, after having been brought
into subjection by the Arabs, became their allies (as the
Manyema in the south-east, before them), and joined
with them in raiding their neighbours.

* The State has had a difficult task at times in
dissociating some of them from their Arab masters ;
but everywhere I went I found them now loyal and
obedient, though some of them went so far as to regret
the good old times, when ivory was paid for in women,
and not in cloth ! I heard one of the principal of these
allies say that if ever the Arabs came back, he and his
people would take to the bush and die there, before they
would again submit ; and I believe this is the very
general feeling.

‘ I am very hopeful that the recovery of this part of
the country will now progress with great strides. The
Government, recognizing that the most pressing need of
the people was the protection of their lives, has taken

434

Up the Aruwimi

the power of life and death out of the hands of the
chiefs, and has issued the most stringent orders with
regard to the ordeals for witchcraft that have been such
a terrible drain upon the population.

* It seems to me that the conditions for rapid progress
were never so favourable among these villages as I found
them at this time. One old chief said to me that things
were very different from what they used to be. Now he
and his people could go anywhere, whereas before, if
they ventured to cross the path of stronger neighbours
they were always liable to be enslaved or killed — more
probably the latter, seeing the ever-pressing demand for
“ meat ” in cannibal countries.

‘ The old predatory instinct is not, however, altogether
a thing of the past, for at Mupe, the chief Pitika (who was
once the owner of a big canoe named the “Leopard,”
because it went about catching people), had just previous
to our arrival made a prisoner of a youth belonging to a
neighbouring village. Upon seeing this the State officer,
Lieutenant Thornton (an American citizen), with whom
I had the privilege of travelling, demanded that the
prisoner should be set free, and gave me permission to
do the cutting of the ropes, while he gave Pitika “ the
length of his tongue” — an emphatic operation, and
effectual, though the offender raved and protested
most eloquently before he gave in.

‘An evidence of the previous insecurity of the
country I found in the position of the villages, for
they all occupied strategic positions on elbows at the
bends of the river, or in the midst of a chain of rapids,
and as often as possible in the vicinity of islands. On
an elbow at a bend in the course of a river, a village
was not liable to be surprised by hostile canoes creeping
along inshore and out of sight, both banks being visible

Island Retreats

435

for a greater or less distance up stream as well as down.
Night attacks are not popular in native warfare, and
seem only to be resorted to when a war of extermination
is being waged.

‘The proximity of rapids is a protection, because
they are only passed by the use of punting-poles, which
make a great noise, and give warnings of approach much
sooner than paddles. Also, as progress through rapids
is always a more or less delicate operation, enemies are
at a disadvantage, as compared with those who are “ at
home ” among their rocks.

‘ The proximity of islands is an important matter, as
furnishing a safe retreat in case of attack on the part of
the bushmen, who are often on bad terms with the
riverine and fisherfolk. A retreat to an island, taking
all the canoes with them, is a very effectual piece of
strategy against the forest people. These are pre-
cautions that are not now so necessary as under the
old regime, yet the people are naturally occupying
their old sites, rather than establishing at new ones.
I can only hope that the Arab yoke has been effectually
broken, and that these people may never again know
its bitterness, and also that the administration of the
country, having been taken in hand by the Congo
State, the promise of security and prosperity which I
recognized in the new order of things may be very
abundantly realized.

‘ Communication by water will always be a difficulty
along the course of a river broken by so many rapids
as the Aruwimi, and the opening up and development
of the country of which I have been telling will be all
the slower because of this difficulty. Still, if it had been
insuperable, or anything approaching thereto, the river
would not have already become the regular route for

436

Up the Aruwimi

large quantities of goods for Lake Albert and the Nile,
nor should I have been able to make the journey I did
by canoe over so considerable portion of its course.

* True, it was not always agreeable travelling, but,
thanks to the officer of the State at Yambuya, who
arranged everything, and who accompanied me during
the first four days cf the journey, I had none of the
worry involved in carrying out the details inevitably
connected with a canoe journey. He had been over
the ground before, and knew all the people, and every-
thing went most smoothly.

‘As evidence of the thoroughness of the transport
system established, I may instance that it was not
unusual for us to arrive at a village and to change our
twenty-five or thirty paddlers for a fresh crew and be off
again within six or seven minutes. Of course it was not
like travelling in the big flat-bottomed canoes of the
Congo, where the unbroken course allows of the use of
craft four times the size of those adapted for navigating
the rapids of the Aruwimi. Our canoes were not only
more unsteady because they were smaller than those on
the main river, but also suffered in this respect because
they were built with round bottoms — I ought rather to
say, perhaps, they are “ dug out and shaped ; ” for even
the biggest canoes — those requiring sixty or eighty
paddlers — are hewn out of single trees.

‘ Round-bottomed canoes are much safer among the
rocks of the rapids than flat ones, for when they strike a
rock the tendency is to slip off, whereas the flat ones, if
they strike anywhere near the middle, are very apt to
stick hard and fast ; and if they strike somewhat on one
side they have a dangerous tendency to capsize.

‘ For considerable stretches the Aruwimi is often too
shallow to allow of the use of the long-bladed paddles

A Many-legged Spider 437

of the district, so each man is provided with a punting-
pole, some fifteen or sixteen feet long, as well as his
paddle, which often measures ten feet over all, the blade
being half the length. In our canoe we had sixteen
poles ; half of these being firmly planted, sufficed to keep
us in position, while the other half made a kind of step
forward, and these having found good holding-places
would suffice for pushing us ahead a little, and for
maintaining the slightly advanced position, while the
others repeated the process. The movement was
somewhat suggestive of what one might expect from a
spider with a double allowance of legs. When the rapid
happened to be a mile or so in length, or even less, this
process of “ walking up ” became wearisome ; and if a
step happened to miss, as it sometimes did, and we lost
in a few seconds what it had taken us half an hour to
gain, the passage would become exciting, and the
possibilities of a capsize loom large.

4 Sometimes a rapid would consist of a series of short
perpendicular drops of one or two feet, and ascending
it would be suggestive of climbing up stairs. In such
places progress only became possible by disembarking
our men and getting the help of the crew of our second
canoe ; then, by dint of combined pulling and pushing
and lifting, we should get through a step at a time, and
having got through, we should have to wait while canoe
number two was being brought along.

‘ Almost every rapid had its prey in the shape of a
broken canoe, in evidence, sometimes wedged between
the masses of rock, sometimes caught in the branches of
overhanging trees ; and several were pointed out as the
resting-places of cargoes of beads or cloth, and one as
having quite recently swallowed up ^3000 worth of
ivory. In the 180 miles beyond Yambuya we passed

438 Up the Aruwimi

thirteen rapids of sufficient importance to have secured
special names, as well as several minor ones, so the
journey was anything but tame.

‘ Happily, we got safely through them all, though
not always at the first attempt. The passengers got a
good shaking from time to time, and sometimes a
pretty emphatic sprinkling. The crew, however, had
a decidedly wet time of it, for they had often to work
in the water for considerable spells. The polemen, too,
would make a false stroke now and then, and fall
overboard, taking an involuntary “ header,” to the
damage of their paint and feathers.

‘ It was especially the paint that suffered at such
time, for it won’t stand washing. That the paint was
not waterproof was very often made evident after half
an hour’s work by the rolling perspiration converting a
suit of white or red pigment into a series of stripes.
At first the effect would be suggestive of a striped
“ blazer ; ” but an hour’s paddling, to say nothing of a
fall overboard, would be usually sufficient to wash a coat
of paint down to the region of the paddlers’ feet and
ankles, in the form of a little coloured mud.

‘ I found that in still water our sixteen men could
paddle us at a rate of about four and a half miles per
hour. With poles over shallow ground, or when our two
canoes were racing, we could creep up more than five
miles an hour for short bursts. In going up stream we
found we had a current of one and a half or two miles
an hour against us. This would be in the smooth reaches
between the various rapids. In the rapids we had a
current of six or eight, or even ten miles an hour to con-
tend with, but, happily, only for very short distances.

‘ During our first day’s journey after leaving Yambu-
ya we came to no village, though we passed the sites

Baluti’s Home-coming 439

of several abandoned posts once occupied by the Arabs,
as well as evidences of the country having been at one
time very populous. After a night in the forest two
hours’ paddling the next morning brought us to
Bakanga, a small village of some three hundred people.
From this point on, native villages and State posts were
close enough to furnish very convenient camping-places
till we finished our voyage, which, going and returning,
lasted just a fortnight.

4 The second day we got along much better than the
first ; there were fewer rapids, and the river having
widened out to half a mile, the current was much easier.
However, as we approached the picturesque village of
Bobwote, where the river narrowed down again to two
hundred or three hundred yards, and found its way
between masses of rock, progress became slower, and by
the time we reached the track of the village it was time
to camp.

'At this place, Baluti, one of the members of our
Bolobo Church who had accompanied me on this voyage,
in the hope of finding the home from which he had been
stolen by the Arabs some eight years ago, found one of
his step-sisters, and learned that after the destruction of
the village of his chief it had been rebuilt on a new site
about an hour to the south. His mother had died when
he was quite a little fellow, and now he learned that his
father had been killed shortly after he himself had been
stolen away. There was now but one of his three sisters
left to welcome him home, though there were other
members of the family ; but their influence was not equal
to persuading him to come back and settle among them.

'He is quite hoping, however, as we are also, that
from time to time the way may be clear for him to
revisit his old home, and to continue the telling of the

440

Up the Aruwimi

“Good News” of which he took the occasion to speak
during the two days he spent among the people.
Happily, he has not forgotten his mother tongue, the
“ Liaboro ; ” and as it appears to be understood over
quite a wide stretch of country, he will be able to render
us most important help when the time may come for our
commencing work there.

‘ Early in the afternoon of the following day we
entered the Banalya district, and I was enabled to visit
the site of the famous Emin Pasha rear-guard camp at
that place, where Major Barttelot was murdered. I also
went a short distance into the forest, to see the big tree
which has been identified as that at the foot of which the
Major was buried, eleven years ago.

( The present Banalya is some five miles beyond the
old camp, and here the State has an important link in
the transport system, in charge of Mr. Thornton (an
American) into whose good care I was passed by the
official who had so kindly made all the needful arrange-
ments for me at Yambuya, and who had journeyed thus
far with me. Banalya is an important administrative
centre, and is also an important link in the transport
system ; it has also some hundreds of acres of coffee
and cocoa plantations. Two lines of transport converge
at this point, one by water from Basoko, along the
course of the Aruwimi, the other from Stanley Falls,
via the Lindi River (which falls into the Congo close to
Sargent Station), and a short overland stage.

‘ While at Banalya some Lindi people came in with
loads, and recognized me as having paid them a visit, in
company with Mr. Stapleton, early in the year. They
evidently retained very kindly memories of our visit.
The transport beyond also divides into two lines, one
going north-east towards the Nile, the other eastwards

Banalya Blacksmiths 441

towards Lake Albert — the line along which two travellers
have recently passed from Uganda to the Congo.

‘ The native village of Banalya is one of the finest we
saw on the Upper Aruwimi, though I cannot claim that
it contains more than some fifteen hundred people.
Lupu, the chief, is known as one of the ugliest men on
the river. The officials say he more than makes up for
this by being one of the best subjects of the State ; he
is certainly very intelligent, and I was surprised to find
he knew something of God and a future state, having
learned from the Arabs with whom he was allied, or to
whom he was subject for some years.

‘ At this place I saw one of the best native black-
smith shops I have met with. There were eight workers,
but half of them were required for blowing the fire, by
means of four small bellows arranged along one side
of it. These bellows are of the immemorial pattern
depicted in the ancient Egyptian sculpture pictures,
and of the kind met with by travellers over the greater
part of the continent. They are something similar to
saucepans in shape, the wind being produced by rapidly
working up and down baggy coverings of skin securely
tied in the place ^of their covers, and finding its way to
the fire through nozzles protruding from one side, just
as saucepan handles do.

‘ The anvils are blocks of close-grained sandstone set
on edge, and the hammers are pieces of iron in the shape
of sharp pyramids, being about three times as high as
they are wide on the face. The hammer handles are
cleft sticks, through which the tapering hammer is
inserted and made fast with split cane — a very insecure
arrangement at first sight ; but it appears to work well,
the hammer being tightened up by the force of each
successive blow.

442

Up the Aruwimi

Each of the two smiths had two or three pieces of
iron in the fire at the same time, and the one who was
doing the heavier work — making an anklet— had two
hammer men to help him ; and as he had his own
hammer as well, there were sometimes three of them
going at the same time upon one piece of work ; and
wonderfully well they did it. Many of the pairs of
anklets weigh seven pounds, those Lupu had on appeared
to be considerably heavier than those I weighed.

‘The blacksmiths had no tongs for taking hold of
their work, but each piece of work had its own handle
of green wood, by means of which it was held while
being wrought. Very intricate patterns in fluting and
chasing work were produced on knives and spears by
means of a tool like a cold chisel set in a block of wood,
over the point or edge of which the work was gradually
moved, receiving a blow with a hammer on the reverse
side at each movement, the pattern being provided on
what is for the moment the underside of the work.

‘As the people have no files, they very carefully
hammer out their work to the exact size ; the smoothing
is then done with sand and water, and the polishing by
carefully hammering with smooth-faced hammers. It
did one good to see the industry of the people, for theirs
was a day’s work so much nearer the fair thing than is
usual on the Congo, that it was really encouraging.

‘There were also several carpenters at work in the
village making bedsteads and pillows, the pillows being
carved out of wood as well as the bedsteads. They
were also engaged upon stools with any number of legs
from five downwards, as well as upon dishes and upon
mortars, in which food is pounded sometimes before and
sometimes after it is cooked. As the carpenters have
no saws, they split the trees, by means of hard -wood

Tools and Industries

443

wedges, into suitable pieces for the work they have
in hand. These pieces are then dressed roughly into
shape by means of small axes, and then more smoothly
dressed by that most useful of all their tools, a small
single-headed adze, which seems to be as universal in
Africa as the blacksmith’s bellows, and as ancient. The
cutting edge suggests a three-quarter inch chisel set in
the shorter arm of a V-shaped piece of wood cut from a
tree where two branches join, this shorter arm being say
five inches long, and the other, which serves as handle,
about twice the length. These are greatly used in
hollowing out canoes from solid logs of wood after
the rough work has been done by axes, and also for
hollowing out dishes, as well as for dressing all but the
smoothed surfaces of all kinds of wood work.

‘The small gouge, with a semicircular groove of
about the eighth of an inch, is also a very largely used
tool for producing the finely-grooved surfaces given to
paddle-blades and other articles. Planing is done by
means of long sharp knives, or broad flat chisels, but it
is paring rather than planing. A good deal of smoothing
is done by means of a heated piece of flat iron carefully
worked over the surface to be smoothed. Carved work
is generally finished off in this way, and patterns of
considerable intricacy are also traced on pillows, stools,
dishes and such things by means of heated irons of
different shapes, the result being a kind of “poker”
work.

‘ Basket-weaving is also quite an industry, including
as it does head coverings of various kinds as well as all
the substitutes for boxes. There is also some little
grass-cloth weaving ; but the principal “ cloth ” is made
from the inner bark of a species of fig tree, which, after
it has been stripped off, is soaked and beaten into a kind

444

Up the Aruwimi

of felt, and then serves as raiment for nine out of every
ten of the men we met.

‘Being thinly peopled, the country abounds with
game, and hunting is a regular pursuit on the part of
a considerable number of men and boys. Antelopes
driven, with the help of trained dogs, into large-meshed
nets were our principal resource in the way of meat
during our journey. Some days we saw as many as
three brought in alive.

‘ The Congo people’s houses are of the usual gable-
ended type, with a ridge sloping to each side, and of
any size from that of an earthenware crate or big
packing-case to that of a railway truck — this last would
be especially commodious. Here on the Aruwimi as
well as on the Lindi, the tall pyramid form seems to
have displaced every other, the reason for it being that
every one in this district sleeps with a fire “ in his room,”
and as no Congo house has a chimney, this tall form is
the best adapted for relieving the sleeper from the
attacks of the acrid smoke upon his eyes, the smoke
rising into the long shaft-like roof and filtering through
the leaves with which it is covered.

‘These houses range from fifteen to thirty feet in
height, and are built of a bundle of long palm-frond
stems tied together at the top, and spread out at the
bottom, after the fashion of a partially-opened umbrella,
but without “ the stick,” so as to extend beyond the
foundation prepared for the house. These long stems
are connected with each other by a series of gradually
widening rings of cane, upon which the leaves are tied,
and are so braced together that so long as the framework
encircles the raised foundation the structure is rigid and
stable. In the eyes of the natives it has the great
advantage of being portable, for as soon as any reason

BONDONGA STYLE OF WEARING THE HAIR. BANALYA PEOPLE, ON THE MIDDLE ARUWIMIBRIVER.

Photo : G. Grenfell. Photo ; G. Grenfell.

The Blind and the Dumb 445

may suggest the removal of a village, these pyramids
have only to be raised, by poles pushed through from
side to side above the foundation, and they are quite
collapsible, and can be put on board canoes and carried
away. Of course new foundations have to be made.

‘ I was glad to see, however, that clay-walled houses
with windows and doors were coming into fashion at
some places ; and as these are by no means portable, it
means that the people are being convinced of the power
of the State to protect them, and that they are gradually
losing the old nomad instinct. In any case, the per-
manent house is a distinct advance towards civilization.

‘ The next considerable group of villages beyond
Banalya we found at the end of another day’s journey
eastward. It was just beyond a point where the half-
mile-wide stream suddenly narrowed itself to some one
hundred and fifty yards or so, and where in consequence
the current was especially swift and dangerous for
laden canoes.

‘Here we found one of the very few blind youths
we have come across in our journey ings ; he was evidently
quite intimate with one of our crew, who was dumb,
and it was wonderful to see how well these people got
on, notwithstanding their disabilities. With his hand
on the shoulder of an attendant the blind youth ran
about at a great pace, the narrow paths of the village
and the neighbouring forest presenting, apparently, but
very few difficulties in the way of his making good his
flight, should the need arise. When he had no attendant
he felt his way with a split cane, which served him much
as whiskers do a cat in the dark. The dumb youth
never seemed to be at a loss to make his wants known,
and evidently carried on quite a conversation at times.

‘ The following day, after traversing the reach where

446 Up the Aruwimi

we saw the first hippopotami we encountered since leaving
the Congo, we arrived at Bululu, the port of the iron-
mining district under the chief Pangani, some two days’
march overland to the north. Pangani is the only chief
in the district who never submitted to the Arabs ; but
this, possibly, is as much due to the fact that the Arabs
recognized the value of the iron produced as it is to the
resistance of the producers, for wherever the raiders
went they recognized it was needful to leave a certain
proportion of the people, to cultivate food, to carry
loads, and to paddle transport canoes.

‘ The iron-stone, which is especially rich, is smelted
in small ant-hill-like cupolas, in which it is placed
together with a certain quantity of charcoal. Fire
being applied, a strong blast is maintained by means of
bellows similar to those used by the native blacksmiths,
till the melting iron flows through a blowhole, and
takes the form of a rough ingot in a groove in the earth
prepared for it. Each ingot or “pig” weighs about
twenty-five or thirty pounds, and is worth four yards of
strong calico.

‘ These ingots are “ puddled ” or hammered into
bars about one inch wide and half an inch thick, and
these are again worked up into blanks for knives, spears,
axes, hoes and such-like things. These blanks or
“ forms ” have a recognized value as currency, and are
distributed over a very wide area, to be eventually
transformed into finished articles, according to the skill
and taste of the village blacksmiths and the fashions
which obtain in different parts of the country. This
iron is very soft, and very tough, and can be worked up
into the most intricate shapes, and is capable of taking
a high polish, but the natives know nothing about
converting it into steel ; their only process of hardening

Man-stealing Crocodiles 447

is that of much hammering, but their thin-bladed razors
shave with wonderful ease and clearness.

‘ Another day’s journey brought us to Mumbomboli,
which is the point of departure for Popoie, lying about
five miles to the south, whither we wended our way the
day following. Popoie was originally an important Arab
centre of operations over a wide district ; but the Arabs
were driven from it by the Congo State some six years
ago, and since then some five hundred acres of land in
the neighbourhood has been planted with coffee and
cocoa. It is on an affluent of the Aruwimi, and one can
go right up to the station compound by canoe at high
water. This fact will be of great importance, when the
crops have to be sent down river.

1 This affluent is notorious for the number of crocodiles
that swarm there, as well as for their boldness. They
are so bold that they have ventured up into the station
yard, and carried off sleepers who, according to native
custom on hot nights, were sleeping outside their rooms.

‘ On returning to Mumbomboli we had an interview
with the chief, a very, very old man, as natives go, but
probably not more than eighty. He was very weak
and feeble, but mentally was quite alert, and I could
not help being struck with the resemblance he bore to
the mummy of Rameses the Second. His face, with
its clean-cut features, the colour of the skin, and the
prominence of the bones, made up a picture that was a
startling likeness of the ancient Pharaoh. If faces go
for anything, this old chief must have been a wonder-
fully energetic and capable man, but he was now only
a ruin.

‘ Yet another day’s journey and we reached Mukupi,
the northernmost point in the course of the Aruwimi, and
the end of our voyage. At no place had we covered the

448 Up the Aruwimi

second parallel of North latitude, though we had been
within a mile or two of it. The valley of the Aruwimi
is practically a continuation of the great northern bend
of the Congo towards the east.

‘The following day we set out on our return, and,
coming down stream at a greater distance from the
shore than when ascending, I was more than ever
impressed by the flatness of the country. During the
whole two hundred and seventy miles there were very
few hills of a hundred feet, and none that exceeded
a hundred and fifty feet above the level of the river. It
was very plain from the water-marks on the trees that
when the Aruwimi is in flood the river is ten or twelve
feet higher than at the time of our journey, and that a
very considerable tract of country must be inundated.
From the presence of so many rapids one would expect
to find the river flowing through a hilly if not a
mountainous district ; but we found it to be low and
flat, and covered everywhere, excepting on the planta-
tion ground and sides of villages, by the dense forest
Stanley so graphically describes. It is a country of great
natural resources, but lacks people to develop them.

‘ I cannot claim that this journey has been an
important one, but it has certainly been very interesting.
At the same time I could not help being very, very sad,
as I realized the sorrows of these poor people, and all
the more sad, when I remembered that as these are,
so are they that remain of all the tribes between this
and the Bahr-el-Ghazal on the north, and the Nile on
the east.

‘ My heart aches for these poor survivors of the Arab
sway. Theirs must be a vigorous and resourceful race,
or so many of them would not have survived the terrible
cruelty and nameless horrors to which they have been so

A Grand Opportunity 449

long subjected. I cannot urge that their numbers are
such as to promise a great and immediately prosperous
field for mission effort, but they certainly belong to no
decadent race, and it seems to me they are just at that
stage when they would be readily susceptible to the
influence of wise-minded and sympathetic followers of
the Master, who would have a grand opportunity to help
in the moulding of a people evidently destined to play
no small part in the future of the country, and a part
that would be immeasurably the happier if they could
be brought under the influence of Christian teaching,
and the Kingdom of our Lord be established in their
midst.’

CHAPTER XIX

ILLNESS AND LAST FURLOUGH

Plans Frustrated— Grenfell’s Serious Illness— Discussion about a
Sheep — Storms and Wrecks — Grace Grenfell on her Travels —
A Revolt at Boma— The Voyage Home— Proposed Appeal to
Principals of Colleges— Passage about Newspaper Men —
Grenfell at Brussels— Illness of Himself and Colleagues— His
Welcome to Mr. Lawson Forfeitt— Another Breakdown —
Letter of Mr. Howell — Farewells.

N February 5, 1898, in writing to Miss Hawkes,

Vy Grenfell remarked : ‘ People are beginning to talk
of my going home, but I see no prospect of it ; for so
long as I keep as well as I am, and am wanted so much
out here, I shall not think it right to go holiday-making :
though for many reasons I should enjoy it immensely.’

Kindly and well-advised people continued to talk of
his going home, but he remained at work, believing
himself to be wanted and able. Two years after writing
the sentence here quoted, at the end of January, 1900,
we find him starting out upon a long voyage from
Stanley Pool to Yakusu. He had gone down to the
Pool to meet the Stonelakes, whom he purposed to
‘ show the round of the up-river stations,’ and when that
bit of work was accomplished, he would ‘ return to Bolobo
and pack up for home.’

In forecasting this project he writes : ‘ But these are
plans, and on the Congo they are exceeding likely to be

Broken Plans

451

broken in upon by the unexpected, which so often
happens. I shall be very glad of a period of rest and
change ; but I am wondering if rest and change will
ever set me up as I feel I need. That I am feeling a
great deal older than when I saw you last, I suppose is
not wonderful when one counts the time that has passed.’

The plans were ‘broken in upon,’ according to his
own word ; but whether the happening was 4 the un-
expected’ to any other than himself, it would be rash
to affirm. On reaching Monsembe he was overtaken by
illness, which he himself describes as perhaps the most
serious which he had suffered in Africa. The brothers
Stonelake, whom he was intending to take as far as
Yakusu, brought him back to Bolobo, on March 12.
On the 1 5th the 4 Goodwill ’ started again on her up-river
voyage, in charge of Mr. Howell. The fever was obsti-
nate this time, and his prostration was very great ; but
in his weakness he took the keenest interest in Mission
matters, and taxed his sorely-wearied hand and brain to
render what service was possible in the form of counsel
and sympathy.

Writing on April 1 to Mr. William Forfeitt, of
Bopoto, he says : 4 You will have heard of my having
had to turn back at Monsembe, and at the same time to
abandon the hope I had of seeing you all once more
before starting for the old country. I was very much
44 set ” on the journey ; but the Lord evidently thought
it much less important that I should make it than I did
myself. You will be glad to know that the improvement
the 44 Goodwill ” was able to report has been followed
by further progress, though I am still very weak. I
have a daily range of temperature of about three
degrees, finishing the day usually as much above normal
as I commenced it below. Can’t yet take solid food,

45 2 Illness and Last Furlough

and am longing for your tomatoes with a great longing.
If I could only get up sufficient energy to do the little
packing required, I think I should venture upon the
railway journey, though it will be no small ordeal for me
to do the needful “ sitting up.” I am hoping, however, to
make more rapid progress during the coming week, and
to be ready for starting the week after.’

A week later, writing to Mr. Joseph Hawkes, Grenfell
mentions the change of plans brought about by his ill-
ness, tells of his return to Bolobo from Monsembe, and
continues : ‘ This was a month ago. Thank God, since
then I have been gradually getting better, and am now
comparatively strong again. Up till five days ago I
have been living on milk, soup, and such-like things ; I
then began on a little fish. Yesterday I took some fowl,
and so am pulling myself together at a good pace. I
suppose this has been my most serious illness for many
years, and I imagine it came very near to leaving me at
Monsembe for good. However, it seems as though the
Lord has still something for me to do : I had therefore
better get away home, and pick up the strength for
doing it. All being well, we leave here on the 12th in
the “ Peace ” — I’m not going all the way in the “ Peace ”
— and ought to be in England by the close of May.’

Two months later, on April io, he writes again to
Mr. Howell, reporting progress that is slower than was
hoped for, and continued fluctuations of temperature.
The letter proves that, in spite of illness, he has been
attending to Mission business, and contains many and
minute details concerning the engagements and payment
of sundry work-people. He is busy with steamer
accounts, but his illness has prevented him from making
them complete. An inserted postscript, dated April n,
runs : ‘ Have had a try to make out expenses for the

453

The Case of a Sheep

journey, and the result is 5738 (brass rods), but I can’t
guarantee the figures.’ There follows a quaint item of
news, illustrating the diversity and subtlety of the cares
that may burden the attention of a sick missionary.

‘Just now there is a big discussion on between your
boys and ours about a certain sheep with a brown-
spotted face. We intended taking it to the Pool, but
as the matter stands we leave it for you to see. It seems
quite at home among our sheep, and the evidence is
strongly in our favour, so we conceive. But if you have
a mark or any certain knowledge, that will settle the
matter.’

Anxiety about the ‘Goodwill,’ which Mr. Howell
is navigating, is also a perceptible addition to his
care. ‘We have had very bad weather, and have
often been with you in thought. The big barge [of
the State] at anchor one night parted her chain in a
tornado, and drifted on to the rocks below Chumbiri.
This was a fortnight, ago, and as yet she has not reached
Bolobo. Costermans has been up looking after the
lifting and repairing ; her stern went down under water
again. The “ Deliverance ” has been on the rocks just
below Kwa. It is only the bad weather that makes me
anxious about the “ Goodwill,” and I shall indeed be
glad to know that all has gone well with you. One of
the storms we have had was very like that April tornado
that did such damage at Dr. Sims’ place. We only put
the “ Peace ” in the water yesterday, so have escaped the
wearing of bad weather on our beach. It is only during
the last two or three days that the river has begun to
rise. It is still very low.’

Of the railway journey from Stanley Pool to
Matadi, which Grenfell had looked forward to with
some personal apprehension, only two details can be

454 Illness and Last Furlough

recorded. The first is that it was made without cost
to the Mission. The Rev. Lawson Forfeitt, having
apprised the Director of the Congo Railway Company
of Mr. Grenfell’s intended journey, that official very
kindly granted free passes to Mr. and Mrs. Grenfell,
and secured for them every possible courtesy and
consideration on the way.

The second detail is given by Grenfell in a
subsequent letter. His little daughter Grace, who was
blithe as a bird during the big ocean voyage, was sick
every half-hour in the train. Perhaps her steamer life
on the Congo had prepared her for the bigger
experience. Writing at sea, her father says : * She
does not seem to feel the steamer rolling, but when
the gunwale goes over toward the horizon she says :
“ Keka, ebali ekobata ! ” [Look, the river is climbing up !]
She is puzzled by the quantity of “ blue ” and “ soap-
suds ” in the water, and by the absence of sandbanks.’

At Matadi the travellers were affectionately received
and tenderly cared for by their friends, Mr. and Mrs.
Lawson Forfeitt. As the home-going steamer ‘ Albert-
ville ’ was timed to lie some days at Boma, Grenfell
determined to prolong his stay at Matadi till the last
possible moment, and then to drop down river in the
railway company’s steamer, catching the ‘ Albertville ’ at
her Boma moorings.

But the ‘ Albertville ’ had to shift her moorings
more than once at Boma, for a revolt had broken out,
and * two hundred soldiers held possession of the
Chinka Fort for some forty-eight hours, and bombarded
the town and shipping.’ The ‘ Albertville,’ which had
some narrow escapes, was constrained to move beyond
range. The last news Grenfell got of the revolt was
that the rebels had vacated the fort, and were making

VIEW DOWN RIVER FROM MATADI. NEW UNDERHILL (B.M.S. BaseH Station) on the point to thelleft ofSpicture.

Photo : G. Grenfell.

Revolt at Boma

455

their way eastward and homeward. There was also
rumour of their having sacked a mission station, which
ultimately proved to be unfounded.

At one moment this revolt seriously jeopardized
his plans. Just before the hour of starting, a message
was received that in consequence of the revolt the
railway company’s steamer must not leave Matadi.
The impasse was relieved by the signal courtesy of the
Vice-Governor-General, who, a day or two later, sent his
yacht to bring Grenfell down to Boma, his friend,
Lawson Forfeitt, accompanying him thus far on the way.

Writing to the Rev. J. Howell, and dating s.s.
‘Albertville,’ near Sierra Leone, April 30, 1900, Grenfell
says: ‘We passed the “ Philippeville ” yesterday, with
Governor Wahis on board. Our captain signalled :
“ All goes well with the revolt,” or to that effect. And
the Governor asked, “ What revolt ? ” Before our flags
“ Boma ” could be hoisted, I fear we were out of sight.
So the poor Governor will be scratching his head till he
gets to Banana, as to the meaning of it all. I wonder
he did not stop to ask for more details.’

In this letter Grenfell gives a cheering account
of himself and his voyage. Creature comforts are
adequate. The doctor and stewardess are attentive —
important matters for Mrs. Grenfell, who has been
suffering with influenza ever since leaving Boma.
* I’m getting on capitally,’ he says. ‘ In fact, I was so
well by the time I got down river, that I felt I should
have been justified in turning back, if I had not been
out so long. I am already wanting to be back again.
My heart is in the Congo, and with you all. Happily
for my wife, we shall be arriving in England in the best
possible season, and I am hoping she will be quite rid
of the influenza long before we land.’

456 Illness and Last Furlough

Then he turns to the Mission business arising from
his observations on the journey down river, and finally
in a long passage discusses the future of two girls in
whom Mrs. Grenfell is interested, and for whom Mrs.
Howell’s good offices are solicited. Apparently it is an
intricate feminine business, complicated in one case by
a projected marriage which may not come off. He
apologizes for meddling in matters which he imperfectly
understands, on the ground that his wife is in bed and
cannot write, but has no doubt that Mrs. Howell will
act for the best in this and all cases.

The concluding sentence is characteristic. ‘ I pray
that neither our girls nor our boys may become a source
of trouble and anxiety to you. But, seeing that the
care of young folks and anxiety go so often together,
I shall not be surprised to find that my colleagues are
bearing burdens on my behalf, and I can only say that
you may rest assured of my affectionate sympathy.’

Dating ‘s.s. “Albertville,” English Channel, 30°
W. long., Sunday afternoon, May 13/ he writes
to Mr. Joseph Hawkes : ‘As we are nearing our
journey’s end, I am writing this to tell you of our
whereabouts. We hoped to be in Antwerp to-morrow
in time to catch the steamer leaving in the evening
for Harwich ; but the strong head wind we have had
since passing Ushant has spoiled our chance of getting
away before Tuesday. If all goes well, we shall be in
London early on Wednesday morning. The post-mark
this letter bears will tell you how far we are on our way
by the time we reach a letter-box.

‘ We have had a fine voyage, except that since
leaving Sierra Leone it has been very cold. But for
the revolt at Boma we should have been a week
earlier. . . . Practically I am thoroughly recovered from

Letters written at Home 457

the sickness which sent me home earlier than I ex-
pected. In fact, I was so much better by the time I
reached Matadi that I might have turned back, but that
I had been out so long. . . . My plans are to wait in
London till I have seen Mr. Baynes and the doctor,
and paid a visit to Sevenoaks to see the children : then to
go on to Penzance. However, I do not expect it will
be long before I find my way to Birmingham, either
going to or coming from London. You may depend
upon my seizing the first occasion for so doing.’

And here a few sentences may be interposed
concerning a series of letters written at home, which
lie before me — recovered fragments of a voluminous
correspondence. Limits of space permit but sparse
quotation, and indeed many of the letters are so packed
with technical and business detail that they would be
of slight interest to the general reader, except as
disclosures of the personality of the man who writes.
He says again and again that his heart is on the Congo,
and the statement is simple fact. He is greedy for
news from the field. He carries the whole machinery
of the Mission in his head, and the whole personnel of
the staff upon his heart. Every sorrow hits him : every
joy is wine to his soul. In spite of infirmities which
prove that he had exaggerated unawares the extent
of his physical restoration, he is always about his
Master’s business. His commercial faculty and special
knowledge are continually under requisition, and no
detail is too small for his particular and complete
attention.

The whole man is there, whether he is buying twine
for a net to catch fish for certain school children at
Bolobo, or negotiating for a new boat. He must see
every Congo man or woman whom he can possibly

458 Illness and Last Furlough

meet in England, his own colleagues, or members of
other Missions, for conference and sympathy. His
appreciation of his brethren and sisters is joyful and
affectionate, and one ransacks the letters in vain for
a bitter or censorious word. If any man proves
awkward or errant, Grenfell is sorrowful, and keen to
find an excuse.

The fault of these letters from a biographer’s point
of view, is that they say so little about himself.
Episodes of profound interest, concerning which one
craves details, are dismissed in a line. He has but the
slightest interest in his own experiences and emotions,
except as they bear upon his work. He lives for Christ
and Congo, as truly in England as when away upon the
great river. By this time St. Paul has little to teach
George Grenfell in the matter of self-effacement, and
the modern missionary is the peer of the Apostle to
the Gentiles in his care for the infant Churches, in his
sympathy with those who suffer, and in his willingness
to ‘ spend and be spent ’ for the souls that are dear to
him in Christ.

On July 13, Grenfell writes from Birmingham to the
Rev. Lawson Forfeitt : 'Your letter, with the news of
Beedham’s death, was preceded by the telegram to the
same effect. Poor Beedham ! His widow, I am told,
has already arrived ; as also has Adams. What changes !
... I hoped to have written you at some length, but
mail day has come round, and found me with a racking
headache, and but little disposition for writing. Forgive
me ! ... I saw Gordon last week. He is far from well.
I have sent the copy of your letter to Stapleton, who
is undergoing a course of baths. I shall soon want
something of the sort, if my bones don’t mend their
ways. They are becoming increasingly stiff and painful,

Wanted, a Printer! 459

especially those of my right hand. Dr. Sims has just
gone to Vienna.’

The following letter to Mr. Baynes, dated Birmingham,
July 19, is too suggestive to be omitted or cur-
tailed : —

‘ I have been thinking very seriously of the need
that exists for sending help to Bolobo. Do you think
that an appeal to the Principals of our various denomi-
national Colleges would be of any use ? It seems to
me, if you were to write something on the lines of the
following, it might result in our finding some one with
the needed experience for keeping the printing-office at
work during Mr. Scrivener’s coming furlough.

‘ “ To the Principal . . . College.

‘ “ In view of the recently developed needs of our
Congo Mission, I venture to ask whether among the
young men under your care you have some one who, upon
due representation of the case, would probably volunteer.
One of the most pressing of our needs is that of help for
our brother Scrivener at Bolobo, who, in addition to his
work as pastor of the Church at that place, is in charge
of the printing press. His furlough is already overdue ;
but, seeing the importance of maintaining the full
working-power of the press, he is very desirous of
securing a colleague with the needful technical ex-
perience before he leaves. The importance of this
branch of our work will be the better realized, when
it is understood that the Bolobo press serves not only
all the Baptist Missionary Society Stations on the upper
river, but all the other Evangelical Societies as well ;
and just now it is especially important that it should be
maintained, seeing we are engaged upon the printing of
the New Testament in Bobangi.

‘ “ The installation is only a modest one, consisting

46 o Illness and Last Furlough

of three Albion presses, and a stereotyping apparatus ;
but it needs the supervision of a missionary more or
less acquainted with the technique of a printing-office.
The staff consists of about a dozen trained natives,
and is quite equal to “setting up,” “pulling off,”
correcting proofs, and all the general routine, but
is not yet capable of running the office without the
control of some one with experience.

‘ “ Have you, among your students who are thinking
of Mission work, one who has had the needful experience,
and who would be prepared to volunteer for Bolobo?
The Bolobo press is the only one in the Congo State to
the east of Leopoldville, and gives promise of developing
into one of the most important agencies for the spread
of the Gospel, and the uplifting of the people of that
great land.”

‘ You, my dear Mr. Baynes, could easily formulate a
more telling appeal than the foregoing ; but a man who
volunteers upon a prosaic representation of the case is
less likely to make a mistake than one who yields to a
more impassioned plea. In any case, I beg of you to
take such measures as may seem best to you to secure
a man for Bolobo, so that our brother Scrivener may
not be unduly delayed in setting out on his furlough,
and, if at all possible, one who can take up the printing-
office work which he now superintends/

On July 30 he informs Mr. Howell that he has
written to the pastors of Churches in steamship ports,
with a view to securing a volunteer, who would relieve
Mr. Howell of mechanical and navigating duty, and so
free him in a measure for more directly religious work.
A month later he writes again, rejoicing that his friend
has already found opportunity for taking greater part
in religious services, and reporting that he is in

Beware of Newspaper Men 461

communication with two men of promise, though the
prospect of a definite settlement is problematical.

In this letter occurs a significant passage anent news-
paper men, which will touch a sympathetic chord in the
heart of many a victim of * Press ’ enterprise.

‘ I note what you say re Mobeka, and appreciate the
wisdom of your abstaining from taking any part therein
till you have very sure ground under your feet. A
certain newspaper correspondent at Matadi wanted me
to speak ; but I told him that though I had heard
rumours, I was not prepared to take any part in the
matter; and he reproduced my conversation with him,
to my detriment, in the Petit Bleu. Beware of news-
paper men. Nothing less than an absolute “No”
unadorned in any way, will meet our needs in dealing
with them. Even the promise to submit proofs before
printing is not to be relied upon, as witness my own

case in the E of a fortnight ago. They are evidently

moving in Brussels with regard to Mobeka (or Mongala)
matters, and the papers report further troubles there,
but nothing definite.’

The postscript of this letter glances at concerns which
were heavily burdensome to the heart of every British
citizen, but reverts inevitably to the writer’s supreme
interest.

‘ China matters, though not so bad as were feared,
are still most grave for our Shansi men. I wonder if
Britain will get through without falling into grave com-
plications with her neighbours ! The Boer war is entering
upon its last phase, I hope. If the present movement,
which has just commenced, only succeeds, the end may
come very quickly. The papers have no space for other
topics, so we hear nothing of the Congo.’

On October 29 he writes to the Rev. Lawson

462 Illness and Last Furlough

Forfeitt, and the next day to the Rev. J. Howell. The
letters are long, and full of missionary detail, but poor
in particulars about the writer. Collating them, we
gather that he has been miserably unwell, with little
energy for anything ; is perpetually wishing himself
back upon the Congo ; has just come to Bournemouth ;
is hoping to pull himself together after a while ; and,
by way of beginning better things, has started upon
neglected correspondence before breakfast. He is just
as keen and particular in his interest in Mr. Forfeit’s
work at Matadi as in Mr. Howell’s at Bolobo, and has
been looking after its business interests with equal care.

Grenfell was promised by Mr. Baynes, upon his
return to England, that he should be relieved of any
pressure of deputation work, and he remarks in his letter
to Mr. Forfeitt that he has moved about but little, has
only spoken three times — once at a Sale of Work at
Reading, where he ‘saw many Colliers.’ His final word
in a postscript is : ‘ I should like to get away early next
year, but can hardly do so, I expect, till you have put
in an appearance. I am quite looking forward to seeing
you here.’

Writing from the Mission House on November 13,
he addresses a letter jointly to the Revs. J. Howell and
A. Stonelake, Bolobo, formally introducing Mr. Williams,
the new missionary engineer, who is about to sail. Only
a portion of this letter has been preserved, but the last
sentence, though incomplete, reveals something of the
missionary heart of the writer, who consented throughout
his life, in submission to the ordinance of God, to be
immersed in business, clerical, mechanical, administra-
tive, but who was always yearning for the more direct
service of souls.

‘ I am sanguine, brethren, that the additional strength

In Brussels

463

thus introduced into our steamer department may result
in our being able to make more use of our steamers as
direct missionary agencies than we have done in the
past, for I know that the mere carrying of goods and
passengers, important though it be for the work as a
whole, no more satisfies your aims [than mine.]’

The following document tells its own tale : —

To Mr. Baynes.

Hotel Belle Vue, Bruxelles, November 16.

‘I said “ Good-bye ” to Mr. and Mrs. Williams and
Brother Kempton on board the “ Anversville ” this
morning, about a quarter of an hour before she sailed.
They were well, and in capital spirits. I should have
been delighted to have made one of the party. Beautiful
weather to-day for their starting, and quite a contrast to
yesterday.

4 1 have seen the secretaries, de Cuvelier and Lie-
brechts, and had very satisfactory interviews with them.
So far as I can see there will be no reason urged against
my going forward, when the time comes for me to move.
They both of them counselled me to talk freely to the
King on the subject. I am to have an interview with
his Majesty at ten to-morrow, and I have also received
and accepted an invitation (or “ command ”) to lunch
with him.

‘ After my interview to-morrow I am to see Liebrechts
again, and on Monday, before I leave, the Chevalier de
Cuvelier wishes to have a further talk on Congo matters
with myself. It will be as much as I can do, to be back
in time for Camden Road, and to get the needful rest
between. However, you may rely upon my not failing
our friends, except in case of absolute force majeure,
I am much better than when I left the Mission House,

464 Illness and Last Furlough

and am going to bed early, in the hope of having a good
rest to-night.’

I remarked above that this letter tells its own tale.
But the telling is so brief, and the subject-matter so
interesting that I confessed to looking ahead with some-
thing of the journalist’s appetite for good copy. My dis-
coveries were as suggestive as they were disappointing.

I found two long letters to his intimate friends, Mr.
John Howell and Mr. Lawson Forfeitt. Some three
weeks had elapsed since the Brussels visit, but as he
had not written to either in the interval, I was hopeful
of piquant detail. Mr. Howell’s letter, which would
make three or four pages of this book, opens with
references to the 4 jamming of a piston ring,’ which had
hindered him in one of his voyages, and the 4 running
with two propellers on each shaft,’ which 4 Thorneycrofts
advise ’ — and proceeds : 4 Since I wrote you last I’ve been
to Antwerp and Brussels, and also to Birmingham and
Glasgow. The former pair of visits, apart from seeing
the 44 Anversville ” party start, resulted in a few formal
calls, which may possibly serve us somewhat, or may
result in very little.’

That is all concerning Antwerp and Brussels. But
the milling machine, which he did not get in Birming-
ham, and the new boat, which he saw in Glasgow, and
the Rice boilers, of which he saw drawings, occupy a
page. In Mr. Forfeit’s letter the subject is dismissed
even more curtly. 4 1 saw Dhanis when I was in Brussels.
He looked well : is about to be married.’

As the year drew to its close Grenfell’s health was
still far from satisfactory, and he complains of 4 the
miserable pace ’ at which he is pulling himself together,
and of the fact that when mail day arrives he sometimes

A Sorrowful New Year 465

finds no courage or energy for writing anything helpful,
and so lets it slip by. And at the turn of the year the
sorrows of others were pressing heavily upon him. The
Grenfells and the Stapletons were living in the same
house at Boscombe, and on December 27 Mrs. Stapleton
gave birth to a child, who lived but one day. The
mother’s illness was severe, and the occurrence of high
fever induced a condition so critical that a medical
consultation was necessitated. Mr. Stapleton was also
ill at the time. Intense anxiety on the part of the
patients, each for the other, militated against their
progress, and Grenfell tells all the story in a letter to
Mr. Baynes, dated January 1, 1901, in a fashion which
proves how acutely the stress was felt by his loving
heart.

In the same letter he tells of other calls upon his
sympathy. Mr. Banks, of the American Baptist Mis-
sionary Union, who had been twenty years upon the
Congo, and was one of Grenfell’s oldest friends, had
succumbed to rheumatic fever a day or two previously.
Grenfell had sat up with him all the night of December 28,
and a few hours after his leaving, his friend had passed
away. He was busy with the affairs of the widow and
five children. The letter concludes : —

‘ Congo men are evidently not altogether “ out of the
wood ” when they get away to the old country. Up till
March last Mr. Banks’ life, humanly speaking, was one
of the best in the whole Mission band.

‘This is not a very cheery epistle for a New Year’s
letter, dear Mr. Baynes, but it does not prevent my
hoping that the New Century is dawning for you laden
with many blessings, and that they may be continued
for you far down its course.’

A few days later he writes again to Mr. Baynes,

2 H

466 Illness and Last Furlough

proffering sympathy in trouble and bereavement which
had befallen his beloved chief — for so he ever regarded
one whose personality was as inspiring as his abilities
were distinguished and his devotion complete. He
writes, too, as one who knows that his news will be
medicine to a grief-stricken heart.

Mrs. Stapleton’s condition is improving, and Mr.
Stapleton has been greatly benefited by a visit from
Dr. Sims, whose treatment has been helped by the
patient’s relief on his wife’s account. Mrs. Grenfell’s
health has also improved, and respecting himself he
says : ‘ My own condition has mended more while I
have been in Bournemouth than during the whole of my
previous stay in England, and I am thinking seriously
of getting my affairs in order for returning to Congo.
Of course I shall not hurry out, so long as there may be
Mission business for me to attend to here, but my heart
is much drawn Congo- wards, and besides, Howell’s five
years are up in May, and J. A. Clark’s in July.’

Other letters to Mr. Baynes follow, showing how
closely he is watching affairs upon the Congo, and
proffering counsel in the emergencies which frequently
occur. On February 7, he expresses eager gladness in
the prospect of a talk with Mr. Baynes ‘ respecting future
pioneering,’ and begs that it may be arranged at the
earliest possible date.

On March 6, he writes in a strain of boyish glee to
his friend Lawson Forfeitt, who has stolen a march upon
him : ‘ Can it be that you are already once more in the
old country, and that it is your superscription that I’ve
seen on your sister’s envelope? I’ve really had to
study it, to make sure, and there is no other explanation
than that you have arrived. Well, here’s the heartiest
of welcomes to you and your wife ! and may you have

A Stroll in the Park 467

a blessedly good and restful time.’ He is impatient for
a meeting, which must be arranged forthwith, and con-
tinues, ‘ I was in London a week ago, and saw Dr.
Roberts. His report was a most reassuring one, and
I’ve no doubt about being ready for returning to the
Congo in August or September.’

After Dr. Roberts’ reassuring report, it was dis-
appointment to Grenfell and his friends, that later there
came another break-down, which precluded his presence
at the annual meeting of the Society. In a letter to
Congo, dated May 12, Mr. Baynes writes: ‘You will,
I am sure, be sorry to hear that the health of our
brother Grenfell is very unsatisfactory. It quite broke
down at the time of the annual gatherings, and he was
unable to appear at any of our meetings — indeed, he
was in bed the whole of the anniversary week, and even
now he is very far from well, and I am very anxious
about him.’

By the end of June he is again at least in good
spirits, and writes from Sutton Coldfield, Birmingham,
to the Rev. J. Howell, who has arrived in England :
‘ My brother and his wife will be very glad if Mrs.
Howell, yourself and Mr. Scrivener will come over on
Tuesday morning and dine here, and take tea with us.
This will give us a chance of having a nice stroll or two
in the Park, and time for a “ confab ” on Congo matters.’

Mr. Howell being accessible, I wrote to him, asking
whether this invitation was accepted, and if so, requesting
that he would favour me with a brief note of reminiscence.
The reader will be indebted to Mr. Howell for his kindly
and illuminating reply.

‘Yes, I well remember the visit to Sutton, and the
long walk we had together in the Park. This, and many
such walks and “ confabs,” were delightful to me. What

468 Illness and Last Furlough

Grenfell had to say was worth hearing. No word or
suggestion of scandal, but interesting and instructive
talk round one subject — Africa, especially Congo. Gren-
fell enjoyed a joke as well as any one, but life and work
were too serious for him to do much in that line himself.
We wished he had done more.

* The conversatipn in the Park was largely about the
forward work to which he returned. Up to that time we
had worked together at Bolobo. This new departure
meant separation, as I was to take on steamer work,
setting him entirely free for the work at the front. The
map of the unopened country was stamped on that single
eye of his. His dream was one of a quick march into
the dismal night of heathenism with the light. His
magnificent plans flashed six hundred miles this way,
eight hundred miles another, with little trips up the
Lomami two hundred miles, Itimbiri one hundred, etc.,
spoken of as small asides, hardly worth mentioning.
My imagination was so fired that I was at once dis-
satisfied with my work, and wanted to offer for front-
rank work. But “ No,” said he, “ you must stick where
you are, and do your work.”

‘ Had Grenfell been permitted to get sites, and men
to occupy them, there would be to-day a grand last
chapter to a noble life. The last chapter was grand, but
cannot be written in this book. It is recorded in “ the
Lamb’s Book of Life.” ’

Of the last three months of Grenfell’s last stay in
England there is little to be recorded. Only two or
three brief notes are available as data. On August 9,
he writes to the Rev. Lawson Forfeitt from ‘Bolobo.’
At first sight this address is rather staggering to the
biographer, but a second glance dispels all mystery. It
is not Bolobo of the Upper Congo, but Bolobo of

469

The Final Pack Up

Hatfield Road, Birchfields, Birmingham. The brief
letter is mainly a grateful acknowledgment of Mr.
Forfeitt’s kind purpose to see him off at Liverpool,
concerning which he says : 'We shall have but few
opportunities for “ confab ” ; still, it will do me good to
see your face/ Circumstances precluded his enjoyment
of this pleasure.

On September 2 he is staying with his mother,
at Ennis Cottage, Sancreed, the house in which he
was born, and writes to the Rev. J. Howell : ‘ I’m
returning to Birmingham for a day or so at the close of
the week, and then go to London for the final “ pack up,”
where my wife will join me. We expect to stay in
Birmingham on our way to Liverpool, say for a night or
two.’

The last note, dated 'Birkenhead, September 24/ is
also addressed to Mr. Howell : ‘ We arrived in due
course, and our various belongings are now on the
landing stage, in readiness for the morning. In the
excitement of this afternoon I failed to say, as I ought
to have done, " Thank you,” for the material help you
rendered us in the hurry of getting away. As letters
leaving England on October 8 will reach Congo before
we do, we are quite hbping to find letters awaiting our
arrival/

CHAPTER XX

LETTERS TO HIS CHILDREN

A Monkey Story— Hostile Natives— Lessons — ‘ Brain Drill ’ needed
— Loleka’s Story— The ‘ Eye of a Needle ’—A Birthday kept for
an Absent Child— A Piece of String asked for— A Goat Drowned
— The ‘ Blues ’ — Hints on Reading— Accident to the ‘ Peace ’• —
A Swarm of Bees— Difficult Navigation — Turned back—
Bible-reading— Brussels— Importance of learning French.

THIS chapter makes a break in Grenfell’s life-story.

Several of the letters date years back, and others
rush ahead. But the purpose of this book is not a
story-telling purpose purely. It aims to reveal character,
and given a certain temperament, few things are more
apocalyptic than a man’s letters to his children. Grenfell
wrote long, patient, loving epistles to his dear ones, in
which the deep, simple things of his soul find utterance,
unchecked by the faintest fear of printer or of critic.

I am greatly indebted to Miss Grenfell for over-
coming her reluctance to permit the publication of
matters so intimate and precious. May she find her
recompense in the knowledge that her father’s counsels
to his own children have been helpful to other parents
and other children ! Not that his letters were all
counsel. He was far too human and too sympathetic to
feed his bairns upon pure homily. Sometimes the story
comes without the moral, and he smiles to think how
freely the omission will be forgiven. But in story or
sermon, the letters are the outpouring of a wise, loving

The Baby-Monkey 471

heart, and happy surely were the children whose long
exile from home was softened by such missives from
beyond the sea.

To Carrie.

Luchiko River, Central South Africa, March 7, 1893.

‘ While we were camped on the banks of the Kwango
a hunter brought a monkey he had shot, and sold it. He
also brought with it the young one that would not leave
its dead mother. It was quite a mite, and had not been
weaned, so Mrs. Sarmento — the wife of the Portuguese
officer who is travelling with us [Lunda Expedition] —
made a little feeding-bottle and tried to bring it up by
“hand.” At first the little monkey could do nothing
with it ; but a taste of the milk and the necessity of a
hungry stomach solved the difficulty, and the queer little
oddity learned to look for its bottle in the most comical
way, and to stretch out its hands to hold it in the
proper position.

‘ However, the feeding-bottle did not save the
monkey’s life for more than a fortnight or so, for after
that time it got weaker and died. It used to splutter
over the feeding-bottle at first, and instead of arranging
a “ bib ” Mrs. Sarmento used to tie him up wholesale in
a handkerchief. It made quite a funny picture three
times a day, as it was brought in after our meals to have
its feed. Perhaps if they had kept to the bottle, and
not tried experiments on its teeth with hard biscuits and
all sorts of odds and ends from the table, it might have
survived. My monkey story has no moral, I am afraid.
Perhaps you will like it all the better for that reason.’

To Carrie.

Bolobo, July 10, 1894.

‘Your mother and I have been away for a couple
of months on a journey up river. We ascended the

47 2 Letters to his Children

Aruwimi as far as the falls, just beyond the place where
Mr. Stanley made his famous Yambuya camp, when he
went in search of Emin Pasha. We also ascended the
Loika river as far as Ibembo. On the previous occasion
when we ascended the Loika our little Carrie was with
us, so you know it must have been quite a long time ago.

‘ There have been great changes since that time, the
Government having taken full possession of the country.
When you were with us, as I think I have told you in a
letter not so long ago, we were attacked by the natives,
and one of the boys standing at my side was wounded
by a poisoned arrow. We also made the circuit of Lake
Mantumba, and though the lake is not so far away as
the Loika, the people have not yet been reconciled to
the white men, and they turned out with bows and
arrows, just as they used to do when you were with us.
During the whole of our two months’ voyage it was only
on the lake that the people were hostile. At one place,
after preventing us from going on shore for an hour and
a half, they became sufficiently assured of our good
intentions to allow us to land. Once on shore, we were
soon able to overcome their remaining scruples, and
when we came away we brought with us a collec-
tion of bows and arrows and gay feather war-caps,
which they sold to us for beads and small cowrie shells.
This was at quite a big town, as African towns go, but
then you know they do not compare in size, or in fact, in
any way, with English towns. It contained a thousand
houses, more or less ; the men who turned out against
us with their bows and arrows were about four or five
hundred. . . .

‘ I was much interested to get your fraction sum ; I
am glad you have got so far. You are such a scatter-
brained little “ curmudgeon ” that I was afraid it would

Lessons and Holidays 473

be some time yet ere you settled down to so serious a
task. I notice in the report that you are credited with
having “ worked well ” in geometry. I wish I could
gather the same about your French and music ; you
must try to get better marks in these subjects, for they
are among the most important ones for you, considering
your future. Dear little scatterbrain ! the future does
not trouble you very much yet, does it ?

‘ Poor Pattie’s birthday is past, and we have sent her
no present. Yours will soon be round again, and we
will send something for each of you, though it will not
be very much. Your father is only a poor missionary,
and he has to be very careful what he does with his
money, especially considering he has two such big girls
at school.

‘By the time this reaches England you will be
thinking of returning to school after your holidays at
grandma’s. We hope you will have had a very happy
time together. It will be a great joy to auntie and
grandma if they have found that you have made such
progress with your music as to be able to give them
some nice pieces. I hope you have not neglected your
practising.

‘ The “ Goodwill ” is still on the slip, waiting for the
new shaft from England ; but, happily, the good old
“ Peace ” still continues to keep in running order. We
are afraid, however, that she may suddenly stop short,
like the famous old clock ; but even if she does, we are
hoping we shall be able to make her go again, after
a bit.

'You ask in your letter of October io, whether or
not I got your enclosed photo and your friends’ in the
pocket-book. Yes, it reached us all right, and we are
glad to get it and look at the faces of some of those who

474 Letters to his Children

have been so good to you. The pocket-book is kept on
my writing-table, so far at least, and receives special notes
I want to make and keep. Perhaps it may descend to
the depths and darkness of a coat pocket some day,
when its glory has been dimmed by dust and time : it
is altogether too bright for such a dismal fate as yet !

4 Well, my dear Carrie, here is a letter all to yourself,
as you asked, but I am afraid I have forgotten to reply
to quite a lot of the questions you asked. You must
forgive me, for I have so many other letters to write
that I must finish this. Thank you very much for nice
long letters, they are very interesting to both your
mother and myself, even though they are not so nicely
written as we know you can write them when you
really try.

‘ With much love from your mother and myself.’

To Carrie.

Bolobo, August 22, 1894.

‘ I am sorry to hear of your having had whooping-
cough ; happily for you, you have not had to fight it in
the winter time. I sincerely hope your holidays will not
have been interfered with by it, and that you have had
a real good time at grandma’s.

‘ And now, my own dear little Carrie, let me beg of
you to make a really good try to get on with your
lessons this next term. You don’t understand how
important it is that you should begin to study in real
earnest, and keep steadily at it. It costs your father
and mother a great many pounds (many more than you
think), to keep you at school, and you will be very, very
sorry when you grow up, if you have allowed the whole
of your school-time to pass as you have allowed the
early part of it to slip by. What you especially need is
the determination to do one thing at a time, and to do

Brain Drill

475

that one thing with all your might. You have got an
active little brain that could do great things, if you
would only get it into training — it comes out in your
letters. They are always interesting, but the way you
skip about from one subject to another tells me you
want some “ brain drill.”

4 Do, my dear Carrie, for father’s sake, and for
mother’s sake, make a real hard try at some of the
subjects you are learning. We don’t expect you to get
high marks all round, but surely you could do well in
those subjects you like best, if you only put your mind
to it. It would be such happiness for us if you could
make us feel you are in earnest about preparing for the
life that is before you. Try to think for yourself what
that life is likely to be, if you waste the time that is
given you to get ready for it.

4 Father and mother both pray very earnestly not
only that you may make good progress, but that you
may grow up to be a dear good girl. May God bless
you, and help you to prepare very earnestly for this life,
as well as for the life to come.’

To Carrie.

s.s. ‘Goodwill,’ near Mswata, Upper Congo, August 14, 1896.

‘ We are very glad to know you are really trying to
be a good girl. It is not easy, dear Carrie, is it ? Some
of the young folk on the Station at Bolobo are trying
to follow Jesus, and they find it very hard. Loleka (I
send you his picture) has just written me a nice little
letter, saying that after a real hard try Satan had got
the better of him once more, but still he wanted to be a
disciple. I saw him for a little while just before I left,
and I hope encouraged him to go on his way, looking to
Jesus to help him, and to give his heart entirely to Him ;

476 Letters to his Children

for if he kept even one corner of his heart for himself he
would be sure to fall again.

‘Jesus wants every bit of us, and will be content
with nothing less, and if we only just put ourselves
unreservedly into His hands the enemy won’t have the
chance to overcome us. The Good Shepherd is able to
keep all His sheep ! Loleka is almost a young man
now. He was quite a little boy when he came on
board the “ Peace ” first (I believe you were on board at
the time). He was afraid his old master was at the
point of death, and that he would be buried with him, so
he cried for me to ransom him.

‘ I think I gave about three hundred yards of
brass wire to secure his freedom ; but even when the
price was paid he would not trust himself on shore
again, though we stayed at the beach some three
or four days. He is a fine manly fellow, and I am
hopeful he may turn out a great help to us, for he has
a great deal of influence among the young people round
us — is quite a leader amongst them, in fact. You must
pray for him and for Dot, and for several others,
who, like them and like yourself, are trying to follow
the Lord Jesus. It is not easy work anywhere, and it
seems especially hard here in Congo . . .

‘ Only a few days ago we discovered we had been
making a queer mistake for a very long while. You
remember the place where Jesus says, “ It is easier for a
camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a
rich man to enter into the kingdom of Heaven.” What
do you think we have been saying ? Just this : “ It
is easier for a camel to go through the point,” for to a
Bobangi man the “ eye ” of a needle is its point ; what
we call the eye they call the nose. They say the eye
has no hole to let anything through.

477

Not an Easy World

‘Your mother and I are both very glad to know your
heart is bent upon being a servant of the Lord Jesus.
Don’t be afraid, dear Carrie, to let your light shine. It
may not be very much you can do, but you can always
stand on the right side, and then, though your own light
may not be very bright, you will reflect some of the
brightness of our Master.’

To Carrie and Gertrude.

s.s. ‘ Goodwill,’ Stanley Pool, May 16, 1897.

Father and mother have at last finished their long
journey to Stanley Falls, a journey that was all the
longer because after having returned some three hundred
miles we had to go to the Falls again. We are now at
Arthington Station, and expect to wait here till dear
Pattie arrives. She ought to be here in less than a
month. We are very, very happy at the thought of
seeing her, and we only wish we could see you too ; but
you must stay at school and get on with your lessons,
and get ready for going out into the big, big world like
Pat. It’s not an easy world at all to get on in, and it
will be all the harder if you don’t make good use of your
time at school in preparing for it.

‘But I will leave the nasty old lessons, and talk
about even more important things — the things of your
heart. Even if I am a bit cross when I see your report,
when I read what you say about trying to be good, I
forget it all, and am very, very glad. Even though you
were as clever as Miss Unwin herself, dear Carrie, and
your heart was not right, I should be very miserable.
The great thing is to wish to be good, and if you really
wish it you will get all the help you need ; for God’s
promise is sure, and it will come out all right, whatever
people may think of your having tried and failed before.

47s Letters to his Children

‘ I can understand your being a bit sensitive about
it ; but, dear Carrie, all those who are interested in you
will be delighted to see you trying again, and they won’t
think or say what you imagine. All those who love the
Lord Jesus are glad at heart when they see the lambs
keeping to the straight path. You need not talk much
about it, dear child. Just pray, and do the right thing,
and you’ll be happy yourself, and make those round you
happy too, as well as father and mother and all those
who love you, but are far away. I’m sure Miss Unwin
would be delighted to see that your heart was really
given to the Lord Jesus ; she writes very kindly about
you, notwithstanding what you fear. But mind, dear
Carrie, it’s no use to give up a great part of your heart,
if you keep even a little corner for yourself. If Jesus is
to be your Lord and King, He must reign over it all.

‘Both mother and father send their love to you
both ; and assure you of our unfailing prayers on your
behalf.’

To Gertie.

Stanley Pool, November 21, 1897

‘ Father and mother kept your birthday. We had a
nice cake, only the cook boy, when he took it out of the
tin, pulled the top away from the bottom. But it tasted
just as good. We also had some of our friends to
dinner in your honour, and made quite a “ good time ”
of it, considering we are quiet Congo Mission folk. And,
only fancy, we played “snap ” and “happy families,” and
it is many a long day since your father played “ snap,”
though your mother does so often with the little Congo
children who come to our house for an hour or two in
the evenings before going to bed.

‘ Pattie was not at home when I left your mother at
Bolobo, a few days ago, but I expect she will be there

479

A Piece of String"

by the time I get back. She went away in the Mission
steamer “Henry Reed,” and Miss Vigor (only she is
Mrs. Christopher now), who went out to the Congo
with her, was on board as well. Only fancy, Pattie
was “ sea-sick ” on Lake Mantumba, and so also was
Mrs. Christopher, though she is a good sailor. The
waves get up quite big on the lake, as you would
know if you could only remember how they rolled
you about when father and mother took you there in
the “ Peace.”

‘ I am very glad to see that you are making good
progress with your writing. If you keep on as you
have begun, you will write very nicely by the time you
are as old as Carrie.

‘Auntie told me she was sending you a scrap-book,
so I have no doubt that you have received the one you
were hoping for when you wrote. What do you put in
your scrap-books ?

‘ I want you to send me a piece of string, to show
us how tall you are. You must stand against the wall,
and get Carrie to make a little mark on a line with the
top of your head, and then you can easily send a piece
of string just as long as will reach from the mark to the
floor. I also want another piece of string, to tell us how
tall Carrie is.

‘I have sent four pictures. You are to have one of
the large ones, and the photo of poor “ Gwen.” Carrie
will tell you how that Gwen is dead, and also about my
poor milking goat having been drowned.

‘Do you collect postage-stamps yet? If so, Carrie
must let you have half of those I now send.

‘ Mother is not here, to send her love, but I am sure
she wants me to send her own as well as mine when I
write, so I send you “ lots ” from both.’

4§o Letters to his Children

To Carrie.

s.s. ‘ Peace,’ Stanley Pool, November 21, 1897.

4 1 came here two days ago, making the journey
without other company than some of my boys in the
dear old “ Peace.” She is not so fine a boat as the
“ Goodwill ” by a long, long way, but she will always be
more to me than her grander sister. Didn’t my darling
Carrie live a great part, if not the greater part of her
Congo life, on board the “ Peace ” ?

‘ Some one said to me yesterday, “ Do you think the
Baptist Missionary Society would sell the ‘ Peace ’ ? ”
I very confidently replied that they could not do it
without selling me too. . . .

'This time, coming down river, I drowned your
mother’s favourite milking goat, and I shall get into big
trouble when I get back to Bolobo, I know. About
twenty miles below Bolobo we met bad weather, and it
became impossible to tow the boat in which the goat
was placed alongside the “ Peace.” We therefore got
out a long rope and towed the boat astern, thinking all
would go as usual, and that when the wind subsided we
could just have her alongside again. But the water
gradually broke over the bows, till she had just enough
on board to make her steer badly, and then all at once
she filled and went down. We have more than once
before had similar experiences, but usually we had
warnings enough to take the needful measures. This
time, however, we no sooner realized that things were
becoming dangerous than down she went.

‘A poor little sheep, of no particular worth, swam
about, and one of our men swam after it and brought it
on board. Our fine goat, so valuable on account of its
milk, was securely tied to one of the thwarts, and so
could not save itself. So I have lost, till I get back to

Letters to Everybody 481

Bolobo again, my nice fresh milk that I prize so much,
and your mother, the finest goat of her flock/

To Gertie.

Bolobo, September 15, 1898.

‘Father and mother have been very anxious to
know how you got on at the doctor’s — what he did
to you, and how long you had to stay in London. We
were very glad to get your letter the other day, and to
learn you were so well through it all, though we had no
details. . . .

‘Your little sister Grace is growing quite fast, and is
trying to write letters to everybody. She makes such
lots of funny little straggling signs that are quite
original, but keeps them fairly well in line, and regular
as to size ; but whether they are a’s or b’s or x’s the
cleverest of us cannot make out. However, you may
soon expect to get some sort of an answer from your
dear little G. I. G. She can sing several Bobangi
hymns, has been to school once, and is going again
to-day. Perhaps she may begin to recognize real
letters, and how to make them, instead of her own
original ones. I am sending you a new picture of your
sister ; it is not a very nice one, but it will show you
that she is growing. She sends you lots of love, so does
your Mother and also your affectionate Father.’

To Carrie.

Banalya, September 30, 1902.

‘ I have already written to you in reply to your long
letter, and this is just a line or two, to tell you how I am
getting on, and how I left mother. She was going to
write you as I left. I am very sorry you had such a big
fit of the “ blues ” just before you wrote. I’m very much
afraid my letter about your holidays will have given you
another. I shall not be at rest in my own mind till I
hear from you, and know how you have taken it. . . .

482 Letters to his Children

‘ Now about those wretched “ blues ” or “ dumps ” —
what can I say to you ? Girls about your age and with
your volatile spirits are often subject to them, I fancy, so
yours does not appeal to me as an extraordinary case.
It has just got to be met by ordinary expedients, and
first and foremost by your getting out of yourself as far
as possible. Too much introspection does not tend to
comfort, or to confidence in yourself.

* I am glad you have friends in whom you can con-
fide, wise friends, who, seeing your immediate symptoms,
can prescribe for them better than I can, who am so far
away. Like your poor self your poor father has had his
fits of the “ blues,” very bad fits at times. The cares of
this life, and the cares of my position as a missionary,
and the responsibilities of the work before me, all
legitimate enough in their way (to say nothing of un-
faithfulness), have been quite enough to weigh my poor
spirit down, as the Pilgrim’s burden did. But just as
sure as I get to the place where his rolled off, mine rolls
off too ! It does not matter what the load is, down it
drops and disappears !

‘ I think as I get older I am getting wiser in dis-
cerning the approach of the “ blues,” and am becoming
more humble, in recognizing that there’s only one thing
to be done, and in doing it. Of course, when the burden
falls off it does not fall off to set you free to please your-
self, but that you may, in the fulness of a very blessed
liberty, do the will of Him by whose grace you are freed.
When I am at the foot of the Cross I always get a
message from the loving face of Him who is nailed
there, though I hear no word. I do not always rise up
knowing just what to do, though it is often made quite
plain ; and in cases where it is not made plain I am
enabled to go away with the fullest confidence in being

‘Adam Bede’ 483

guided aright when the time for taking action comes, if
I will but accept the Holy Spirit’s leading.

‘ It will be helpful to you, perhaps, if you get some
good biography to read. So far as I am concerned I
find nothing so interesting, and it seems to me good
biographies teach just what I’ve tried to tell you above.
I don’t say you must not read other books, such as good
novels, for instance, but you must not try to feed
yourself on light literature. It is not “ filling ” enough
to sustain a healthy constitution. You might with
advantage, for I think you are old enough, read Adam
Bede , if it comes in your way, and even if you have read
it I should like you to read it again, with a special view
to studying “ Dinah Morris.” The authoress, I believe,
was scarcely accepted as a consistent Christian, but she
certainly could not have been far from the Kingdom, or
she could not have drawn such a character.’

To Carrie.

Bolobo, October 13, 1903.

‘ You will be wanting news of mother and father,
and not a sermon ! and seeing you have heard so little
of late you ought to get quite a budget. You have
been very good to send us such interesting letters, and
we both of us greatly prize the daughterly affection
that has prompted you to keep on writing at such
length though you have had so little in reply. God
bless you, dear Carrie !

‘The fact is, I had so much writing to do, as the
result of the recent turn in Congo affairs, that I’ve had
no time for anything else except the dryest business.
I need not tell you that many of the things said in
England about the Congo are very wide of the mark.
People at home do not understand — how can they ?

‘ You'll think father has got off on another line, and

484 Letters to his Children

is telling me nothing of what I want to hear ! Well —
where shall I begin ? First of all, I’m very much better
than I’ve been for a long time, and I’m getting quite
hopeful again, though I am still anxiously waiting for
permission to occupy new territory, and have had
another great “set back” in the shape of a serious
accident to the “ Peace.”

‘ On the 2nd we ran a trial trip, to see that all
was right for the proposed journey up the Kwango.
Everything went well, and we brought the steamer to
her moorings intending to commence loading up the
following week. On the night of the 5 th, however, we
had a very heavy storm, and the “ Peace ” was carried
by the force of the wind and the waves from her
moorings, and only narrowly escaped coming to the end
of her history. Hearing the shouting on the beach,
Mr. Stapleton and I soon got into some clothes and
turned out to see what had happened, and found the
poor old craft (on board of which you learnt to walk)
blown up stream against the currents on to the long
reef of rocks which stretches out into the river just
above the station. We thought nothing could save her
from pounding herself to pieces, and should not have
been surprised had she crumpled up and gone down, for
the wind was coming right across the six-mile stretch in
front of Bolobo, and the waves broke on the beach in a
style almost incredible for inland water. The “ Carrie ”
was soon swamped and filled up — it took us a couple
of days to dig her out of the sand ! I fear she has
finished her wanderings. She has been down at the
bottom of the Congo several times, but has come home
to wind up her career !

‘ The photos I send will give you some idea of the
damage done above the water line, and the repairs

GRENFELL IN CAMP ON THE ARUWIMI RIVER, BELOW YAMBUYA RAPIDS.

MISSION STEAMER ‘PEACE’ AFTER A TORNADO, BOLOBO.
Photos: G. Grenfell.

Photo J

RIVERSIDE TOWN, BOPOTO. [Rev. Wm. Forfeitt.

■

Bees in Possession

485

necessary, but there’s a lot to be done to the hull,
which does not show in the pictures. I never saw boys
work better than they did in saving the “ Peace,” and
though they have many and many a time given me a
heart-ache because of their heedlessness, I felt quite
proud of them for the way in which they struggled for
the mastery over the storm, and, even though they had
failed, as for quite a time I feared they would, I still
should have been greatly encouraged by the evidence
they had given of having grit in them. I sometimes
say these people will take a lot of “ saving,” but they
are well worth it after all !

‘ Since I commenced this letter we have had a
serious tussle with a swarm of bees, and, so far, they are
masters of the situation, notwithstanding I’ve had my
sailor boys to help ! Your mother heard that I was
almost “ eaten up,” and rushed out to drag me off, and
got such stings on her face and hands as have made her
a sight to see, and rendered her glad of help in being
dressed ! I had a few stings, it is true, but taking care
to pull them out at once, I have not suffered nearly as
much as your mother.

“ These bees had taken possession of one end of
Melbourne Hall, the dispensary end, and some days it
was impossible for Miss de Hailes to give out medicines,
so something had to be done. It is a galvanized iron
building lined with planks, and the bees had made a
store-house for their honey between the iron sheets and
the wooden lining. There were some very fine pieces
of “ comb ” secured, some of them nearly a foot square ;
but, as I said before, the bees are still masters of the
situation, though there are signs that they are preparing
for a move, two big “ swarms ” being in course of
formation.

486 Letters to his Children

‘ We are anxiously looking for the photos you have
had taken, and are wondering if being twenty makes
any visible change! You will see I am sending you
two I have just taken of mother.

‘ Mother sends you lots of love, as I do too, and as
we also do for Gertrude and Isabel. God bless you, dear
children, and make the way for you all to be very, very
plain, and especially plain just now for your dear, dear
self ! *

To Carrie.

Stanley Pool, February 3, 1904.

‘We got back from the Kwango to Bolobo on
January 26; but as we found the “ Goodwill ” there,
waiting to bring us here for the Conference of Congo
missionaries, we simply transferred our things from the
“ Peace,” and came right on ; that is, after getting our
November and December letters which had accumulated
during our absence.

‘ On the journey from which we have just returned
we got as far as the Kingunji Falls, where it becomes
impossible for steamers to further push their way. The
last twenty miles or so was very difficult navigation,
almost like climbing up stairs in places. Now and then
it was so dangerous that several of the crew took off
most of their clothes, in case they might have to swim
for it.

‘The current, by reason of the heavy rains, was
much stronger than on my previous visit in 1886. (I
left you with your mother at Stanley Pool that time,
and three months later we started for England.) The
current this time was so strong that we were unable to
make headway against it with the “ Isabel ” in tow, so
we left it behind at one of the trading factories.

‘ This being the case, when we reached Kingunji I

Turned Back

487

did not feel it would be wise to continue my journey on
beyond, as I intended, seeing I should have to go in an
open boat In my comfortable canoe, the “ Isabel,” I
should not have minded a spell of bad weather ; but to
face rain and wind every day and a tropical storm most
nights, as we were doing just then, would be particularly
hard upon your poor old father, as well as his crew.

‘Turning back was made all the simpler for me, as
the Commissaire of the District happened to reach
Kingunji while we were there, and kindly promised to
take Luvusu and Dala with him to Kiamvo’s, to which
point (some six days beyond) I had hoped to convey
them. I also wrote a letter to the missionaries at
Kibokolo, which the Commissaire kindly agreed to
send off from the Portuguese post, with a view to finding
out, if possible, the route by which the caravans make
their way westward, and the time required to reach
Kibokolo from the Upper Kwango.

‘ Another fact which weighed with me was that the
journey had taken us twice as long as I had anticipated,
and the time was fast approaching when I must start for
Yalemba and Yakusu once more. Your mother has
written you the news of the journey, so I need not go
over it again, but will deal with some of the matters
rising out of your letter.

‘We are very glad to get a sight of Mr. Baynes’
letter to you, and I have written thanking him for the
interest he has taken in the settlement of the details of
your going to Brussels. I am intending also to write to
Sir Hugh and to Miss Hare, thanking them for all they
have done for you. They have been most kind ! Mr.
Baynes’ letter and Miss Roberts’ post-card I am sending
back with this. The former, possibly, you may have
reason for showing to some one some day.

488 Letters to his Children

‘ You will find Brussels wonderfully different from
quiet Sevenoaks, and the Rue de la Loi a great change
after Walthamstow Hall and its green fields. However,
if I remember right, the Rue de la Loi has a double row
of trees, and is close to the Park, but of this I am not
certain. You must tell me just where it is.

‘ Whatever you may do, or leave undone, don’t forget
your Bible reading — at least a chapter for every day, and
one paragraph of the New Testament read and thoroughly
grasped — I mean grasped in such a way as would
enable you to explain what it was about ; and this is
not always so easy when it happens to be in the Epistles !

* Brussels, as a capital city, has many attractions ;
its inhabitants pride themselves upon their city being a
miniature Paris ; but I want you to remember that all
its brightness and life, as in every city, is very superficial,
and though life there may be very charming for awhile,
it is not easy to get any real and abiding satisfaction
out of its brilliancy. I don’t know that I have ever
been so utterly lonesome as in London or Brussels !

4 1 do hope, dear Carrie, that you may have a very
abiding sense of the nearness of the Lord Jesus, and then
you will not be the least lonely, and if He is with you
you will never be in danger. Mother and I are praying
very especially for you. You will be sure to find
difficulties. Your peculiar circumstances will be pretty
certain to be brought home to you in a more or less
uncomfortable manner from time to time, and you will
need much grace and patience to run on unruffled.

‘You must bend all your energies to French, and
then the sooner you are through, the sooner your
pupilage will end! You must write and let us know
what your subjects are, and give us an idea as to your
“ time-table.” So far as we are concerned, we can think

Eye-gate and Ear-gate 489

of nothing which should take precedence of your
devotions, and the French language, and if you attend
to these we shall not mind your taking other things
easily. If there are modern history lessons, you might
with advantage add these, if you are so inclined. Take
every opportunity of being out in the open air when the
weather is fine. “ Eye-gate ” is no less important as
leading to educational results than “ ear-gate,” that is,
if you keep it open.

‘It may be that as the daughter of a Protestant
missionary you may have to share in some of the
obloquy that Belgians are just now pouring out on
Protestant missionaries on the Congo. They attribute
much of the agitation re Congo affairs to the political
aims of English missionaries. There is no doubt that
great cruelties have been inflicted upon many of the
Congo people, though only few instances have come
under the personal observation of Baptist Missionary
Society men. I have spoken out, as a good man and
true should do, concerning those things that have come
to my knowledge.

‘We were much concerned to hear that the doctor’s
report concerning yourself was not as satisfactory as you
hoped it would be. In what direction did he suggest
weakness? You must write and tell us all you know.
How about your poor ankle ? . . .

‘ Be sure you write to Gertie and to Isabel, and give
a little good advice from time to time from the exalted
position of your twenty-first year.

‘Be a good girl, dear Carrie! our hearts can know
no greater comfort here than the assurance that our
children are preparing for a happy and useful future
when we shall have left them. Mother and I send you
more love than we can say.’

CHAPTER XXI

BALKED BY THE STATE

Disappointment — Reproached by the Governor — Meeting with
Bentley at Stanley Pool— Yalemba and Yambuya— Death of
Mrs. Millman — Opposition of Romish Missionaries — Importance
of Translation Work and Schools — Signs of Blessing at Bolobo
— Note«s on Industrial Training — Good Work of Disasi —
Mawambi — Boy Scholars — A Bachelor Menage — Evils of State
Policy— Unity of Native Races— Death of George Moore at
Yakusu— The Lualaba— Nyangwe— Illness of Grenfell— Return
of Mr. Lawson Forfeitt — Interview with British Consul — Voyage
up the Kwango— Progress at Yakusu and Upoto— First Hymn-
book— Atrocities— The Engineer and Carpenter of the ‘Peace
Tsetse Flies— Sleeping Sickness— More Books Wanted— Croco-
diles-The Lomami— Native Hymn-singing— Sickness Again.

REN FELL’S last term of service on the Congo

V_J was marked by protracted disappointment and
bitter disillusion. He returned to his work full of high
hopes, planning great extensions, and believing that the
dream of his life was yet to be fulfilled. He found
himself balked by ruthless obstruction, and deceived by
cynical disregard of obligations and promises. The
consideration which the State had shown to Protestant
Missions in earlier years was withdrawn. Regions from
which Grenfell was warned off because of the dangerous
‘ unsettledness ’ of the natives, were thrown open to
Roman Catholic Missions, and possessed by them.

Slow to believe that the ostentatious friendliness and
profusely professed sympathy of King Leopold could be

Perfidy of the State 49 1

mere make-believe, with that charity which ‘thinketh
no evil/ he too long retained his faith in the fair and
benevolent intentions of the State Administration. His
eyes were opened, and his grief was great.

The investigations of Consul Casement, and the
Commission of Inquiry which Grenfell had urged King
Leopold to appoint, made it impossible that he should
continue to ascribe the responsibility of atrocities to ill-
controlled underlings. The State was responsible, and
he defended it no more. And no more did he hope that
it might be moved by humanitarian appeal. Like others
who had anticipated him in the recognition of the truth,
his hope thereafter was in the pressure of public opinion
from without.

The Commission for the Protection of Natives, which
he had regarded as a valuable check upon evil-doers,
assumed to him the aspect of a mere ‘blind,5 and he
withdrew from it. When he was convinced, he spoke
plainly, so plainly that the Governor, meeting him upon
his last up-river journey, overwhelmed him with
reproaches, affirming that of all the Protestant mission-
aries he had behaved worst.

The insinuation that he had connived at abominable
cruelties, by maintaining an interested silence, was
absurd upon the face of it, to all who knew the
man. And in this matter it is not necessary that his
biographer should be his apologist. In his letters he
tells his own tale. But the perfidy of the State,
ultimately undisguised, went far toward breaking his
brave heart. His references to illness and depression
become more frequent than of old, and he recognizes
that trouble of mind is working physical mischief.

It is true that a gleam of light came at eventide.
Some months before the end, the State gave him a

492

Balked by the State

grudging and reluctant permit to occupy Yalemba, upon
which his heart had long been set. But when he took
effective and personal possession, he was already a
dying man.

Upon his arrival in Congo, in November* 1901, he
obtained an interview with the Vice-Governor-General,
who professed much interest in his plans for commencing
work on the Lower Aruwimi, and promised the most
favourable consideration for definite application for sites.
Grenfell went on his way encouraged, to be thwarted
at every point. If the Vice-Governor’s professions were
sincere, and there is reason to believe they were, he was
overruled by the Central Government at Brussels.

On December 9, Grenfell reached Bolobo, and on
February 4 commenced a voyage to the Aruwimi. His
start had been delayed, that he might attend the
General Conference of Missionaries at Stanley Pool, and
meet Bentley. ‘The Conference was quite a success,
I consider, and though I was sorry not to have been on
my way up river, the “good time” we had there, and
the joy of meeting Bentley, more than reconciled me
to delay.*

Respecting this voyage, he writes from Upoto, on
his return journey, to Mr. Baynes : ‘ I reached Stanley-
ville on the nth ult. and upon taking the needful steps
with regard to our proposed extension north-eastward,
had a very favourable reception by the Commissaire of
the district, who promised, when communicating with
the Governor-General on the subject, to commend my
proposals.

‘ In pursuance of the object in view, I arrived at
Yalemba on the 14th, a point fifteen miles east of the
confluence of the Aruwimi with the Congo, and pro-
ceeded to measure out at that place what promises to

Seeking1 New Sites 493

be a very important centre for Mission work, if we can
but secure it.

‘On the 17th I reached Stanley’s old camp op the
Aruwimi, the point whence he started eastward on the
Emin Pasha Relief Expedition, and decided to make
a request for a portion of this camp, as the second site
we are desirous of occupying in the near future. Both
sites are forty feet above the river, and have great
natural advantages. Yalemba is in the midst of a
populous district, and Stanley’s Camp at Yambuya is
at the lower end of the canoe transit on the Upper
Aruwimi, and at the commencement of a populous
belt. I have drawn planis to scale, and taken some
six hundred altitudes of sun and stars for determining
the geographical positions of these places, and have
submitted them to both the Vice-Governor and the
Commissaire of the District, with a formal request that
our representative may be accorded permission to
proceed with the acquisition of the land indicated, in
the usual way.’

At Upoto he met the news of the death of Mrs.
Millman at Monsembe, soon after her arrival, and he
writes : ‘ On reaching this place a few days ago I was
greatly distressed to hear of poor Millman’s sorrow. It
is a burden the ■ Lord alone can help him to bear!
Yesterday we heard that Mrs. Dodds had gone down
to Bolengi for medical advice, and are full of appre-
hension, lest the advice may be, “ Go to England.” ’

By the middle of April he is back at Bolobo, and
purposes to remain there until he gets a reply from the
Governor respecting the new sites.

On April 23 he writes a long letter to Mr. Baynes,
giving his views, which have been sought, on the subject
of removing the steamers’ headquarters from Bolobo to

494 Balked by the State

Stanley Pool. He says he has just completed a ten
weeks’ voyage in the ‘ Peace,’ and is sorry to have to
admit that the consideration of the question of a new
steamer cannot be long delayed. A new steamer would
have to be built at the Pool, and not at Bolobo.

To Mr. Bavnes.

Bolobo, May 4, 1902.

‘You will have gathered from my references to the
activity of the Roman Catholic missionaries that we are
face to face with forces which aim at minimizing our
influence at every possible point. In any country such
opposition would be a serious factor, but in the Congo
State, where Roman Catholic missionaries have the
active support of the Government, it constitutes a
difficulty which people in a really free country cannot
understand.

* However, though we are not a little exercised
thereby, we are not in despair. We have every con-
fidence in “ the weapons of our warfare.” Many of the
weapons Roman Catholic missionaries use we would not
use, even though they were placed within reach ; and,
besides, they are weapons which win but little more than
the appearance of victory. The weapon upon which we
rely is “ The Word,” and this, unfortunately for themselves
and for Christianity, the Roman Catholics seem afraid to
wield. When they take to its use, we shall rejoice with
them in their successes. Much of their recent success
lies in more or less fictitious occupations, with a view to
keeping us at a distance.

‘ The present phase of affairs is such as to lead one
to write you a word or two on the paramount importance
of translation work and schools. The people must have
God’s Word placed within their reach, and be taught to
read it. The good seed is “ The Word” and this must be

495

Another Big Storm

sown : in this is the only hope of Evangelical Truth
making its way in Africa. We white people cannot go
everywhere preaching the Word, but with God’s help
we can scatter it far and wide.

1 The opportunity for insisting on this is afforded not
only by the fact that we are face to face with an
opposition which can only be met by carrying out this
policy of translations and schools, but also by the fact
that Mr. Arthington seems to have provided for just
such work. Men with distinct linguistic ability, and men
who, like Bishop Tucker, are “ mad on schools,” are
needed for the work before us/

To the Rev. J. Howell.

May 9.

‘ I have written to Mr. Baynes re steamer work, and
have followed your admirable statement of the case,
adding only one clause. This has reference to the bad
beach at Bolobo. In January the “Goodwill” had a
very bad time — rolled the funnel over into the river,
whence it had to be fished up in the morning, together
with the despatch-box ! The night before we started up
river we had another big storm, and for a while “ Peace,”
“ Plym,” “ Bristol,” and “ Goodwill ” seemed as though
they would be piled up together on the beach ! The
“ Plym ” knocked three holes in the bow of the
“ Goodwill ” and we could not start till a six-foot patch
had been bolted on to the latter/

To the Rev. Lawson Forfeitt.

Bolobo, May 11.

‘ I had a very pleasant week with your brother and
his wife at Upoto, on the way down river. They are
wonderfully well, and, as usual, full of work. . . . So you
have seen my friends, the Powells of Edenbridge. They
have always been very “chummy” and hearty. And

496 Balked by the State

you’ve been to Penzance also ! My poor mother’s little
place is four miles beyond, and out of the world, being
on the way to nowhere. She is very old and feeble now,
though she is still spared to us. I am glad to know that
your mother is better again. She is a much younger
woman than mine.*

By the end of May he has received a not very
satisfactory reply from the Governor to the application
for sites. He intends going up river again in the Peace ’
to Yakusu with stores, and then to Yambuya, there to
take to canoe, and make another eastward journey.

To Miss Hawkes.

May, 1902.

'You will be glad to know that here at Bolobo,
shorthanded as we are, we are not without evidences
of progress and blessing. People are more willing to
hear, and give heed to the message they have so long
slighted. In fact, many are professing to have given
their hearts to the Lord Jesus, and there are signs of
good times coming. It has been a long seed- sowing,
with but little in the way of harvest during the past
three or four years. We got up to a certain point, a
membership of nearly forty, and then stopped. We have
a native evangelist out in a town some fifteen miles
away, who is now entirely supported by the Bolobo
Church, and who is carrying on a promising work. At
a village about five miles to the south, where Miss de
Hailes is working, there are several conversions, so
things are beginning to move, and we are quite hopeful.’

On July 27 Grenfell writes to Mr. Baynes from
Monsembe: ‘I reached thus far on my way to the
Aruwimi once more on the 25th.’ Discussing the new
steamer project, he remarks upon the advantages of a

MAN-EATING CROCODILE, BOPOTO.
Photo : Rev. Wm. Forfeitt.

MISSION STEAMER ‘ENDEAVOUR,’ OFF KINSHASA BEACH.
Photo ; Rev. J. Howell.

497

Off up the Aruwimi

shallow-draught steamer, like the ‘Peace/ ‘advantages
which, but for the fact of my having been so much tied
down to the regular “ tramp ” service for the supply of
the stations during recent years, would have been turned
to better account/

In the course of his voyage he wrote, and forwarded
to Mr. Baynes, a paper on the ‘ Industrial Training for
Natives on the Congo/ The following letter from Pro-
fessor M. E. Sadler, Director of the Board of Education,
London, will account for the task and appraise the
execution.

‘Board of Education Library, St. Stephen’s House,
Cannon Row, N.W., November 19, 1902. Dear Mr.
Baynes, I have been reading with great interest and
profit the notes on Industrial Training for Natives,
written by the Rev. George Grenfell at your request,
and beg that you will, when an opportunity offers,
transmit to him our cordial thanks for his valuable
contribution to our volume. It is short, but full of
suggestive material, and I am particularly glad to think
that it will appear among the other reports.’

From Yalemba Grenfell wrote Mr. Baynes, under
date September 9, saying he was leaving the next
morning to proceed up the Aruwimi, ‘from the mouth
of which we are some fifteen miles to the east.’ He had
received valuable letters of introduction to State officials
on the Aruwimi, from his personal friend, Major Malfeyt,
the High Commissioner Royal. He adds, ‘ The way seems
clear for my making a journey considerably beyond my
previous farthest. I have also lost a little time in
procuring and fitting up the canoes in which I am
intending to make my way when I leave the “ Peace ”
at Yambuya, at which point further progress is barred
by the rapids which stopped Stanley’s steam flotilla in

2 K

498 Balked by the State

1 887, when he went in search of Emin Pasha. It seems
to me that God in His goodness is making the way plain
for me, and I pray that this journey may be to His glory.’

He then tells of the joy he had experienced in
witnessing the progress of the work at the stations on
his way up river — Monsembe, Upoto and Yakusu — and
concludes, ‘ I told you of one of our young men having
settled among his people at Yalemba, with a view to
teaching them what he himself has learned. He is a
very worthy Christian, and has already done something
towards commencing a day school. On the Sunday
I spent at his place on my way up river, I was present
at a service in which a hundred people audibly joined
in the Lord’s Prayer in the Eonga language, in which,
as yet, no Mission work has been done except by this
young man Disasi.

‘ The service was equally well attended the day
before yesterday, and again I heard the people unite in
the Lord’s Prayer. To you at home this may not mean
much, but I can remember the time when it was more
than we could have heard in all Congoland ; and this
beginning of things at Yalemba seemed to me to be
fraught with great and blessed possibilities for the near
future, and filled my heart with joyous hope ! ’

Six weeks later he is nearing his objective, and writes
to Mr. Baynes, on October 21, from Avakubi, Upper
Ituri River: ‘A further line or two, to report progress.
On the maps this place is near the 28th meridian.
To-morrow it is arranged that I start for Mawambi,
a place practically on the 29th meridian. This leaves
a degree of longitude still to be covered before reaching
the British frontier, and a few more miles before reaching
Mboga, the nearest of the Church Missionary Society
Stations.

Mountains of the Moon 499

‘ In view of the announced Church Missionary
Society programme, Mawambi will be the farthest limit
of our future sphere, and though I could easily arrange
the transport, I do not propose to go beyond that point
— though I must confess it is a great temptation to push
on a little farther, and drink of the water of the Nile !
Perhaps from Mawambi I may see Ruwenzori, as when
conditions are favourable it is visible from that place. It
will be something by way of recompense, if I can get
a glimpse of the snow-capped Mountains of the Moon,
which feed the sources of the Father of Rivers !

‘ The carriers who take me on to Mawambi will
bring me back say in a fortnight’s time, and in ten more
days I may expect to be back at the “Peace” camp.
Going down river will be very different from ascending
it, especially at this season of heavy rains and floods.

‘ God is very good to me, in the way of health and
strength and, indeed, in every way ! ... I am told that
a considerable part of the route between this place and
Mawambi lies along the track already “ picketed ” for
the railway between the Falls and the “ Grand Lakes.”
I touch it first three days away from Avakubi.’

In the end Grenfell got as far as Mawambi, eighty
miles from the Uganda frontier, and wrote, ‘ I could have
gone on farther, had I cared to do so, but I was plainly
in the Church Missionary Society field, and at the end
of my pioneering for the Baptist Missionary Society in
this direction.’

To Mr. Baynes.

Yalemba, November 13.

‘With the purpose of getting to know something of
the languages spoken in the country through which I
have passed, I have brought down with me twelve
youths, representatives of the three principal tribes

500 Balked by the State

with whom I have come into contact. Some of these,
we may hope, will in the future be messengers or help
others to become messengers, of the Truth it will be our
one desire they should learn during their stay with us.
They came on the understanding that they work during
the half of each day, and go to school the other half.

‘On these terms it seemed as though I could have
secured almost any number, and many were greatly
disappointed because I could not take them. Some
of them absolutely cried! As soon as ever they have
learned one or other of our school languages, I trust we
may be able to put them into the care of a brother
whose linguistic instincts specially qualify him for
the gathering of vocabularies and grammar notes, which
will be of the utmost importance when the time comes
for us to occupy the Upper Aruwimi. They have
already commenced “ going to school,” for we have with
us two teachers who have assisted at Bolobo, who give
daily lessons to twenty young people on board the
“ Peace ” and the “ Bristol.”

‘As soon as I reach Bolobo I shall commence the
putting together of the geographical notes I have
collected, with a view to making a map, which I hope
will be of service in helping you to realize the distances
and bearings of the various points I have named/

At Christmas he is back in Bolobo, making plans for
forward work, when the opposition of the State should be
overcome.

Prior to spending Christmas at Bolobo he went down
to Stanley Pool. On New Year’s Day he was back
again, to meet Mr. Lawson Forfeitt, and to confer with
him and Mr. Howell concerning the transfer of the
steamers from Bolobo to Kinshasa.

On January 18, 1903, he was summoned to the Pool in

Visitors and Servants 501

haste, on account of Mrs. Gordon’s serious illness, whom
Mrs. Grenfell remained to nurse. This condemned him to
a bachelor menage on his return to Bolobo, of which he
gives a very piquant description to his friend Mr, Thomas
Lewis, of Birmingham.

‘January 24. Your very kind and welcome letter of
the close of November reached me last evening. The
“Ville d’ Anvers” (Government steamer) brought it up,
and as the day was done when she arrived, the captain
dined with me on the remains of the Congo fowl (pigeon
size) which had served for my breakfast. I mean my
mid-day meal, for somehow we have got into the conti-
nental mode of naming our feeding-times. I’m all by
myself just now (will explain later), and, as is often the
case, visitors seem to be more than usually numerous.
Here, at Bolobo, we are on the main highway to the
heart of the continent, and, as compared with our early
days, “ crowds ” go by. I had five visitors to dine with
me on Christmas Day (two Dutch and three French),
and, instead of having the quiet day I was looking for-
ward to, I had to drill my boys, and get something for
the table. And you know I am so far from being a
“domesticated” man that the effort must have been a
trying one for me. However, I got through it.

‘ My chief engineer helped to cook, and the carpenter
lent a hand to the steward, and the engineer’s mate and
the carpenter’s ditto waited at table, Patience having
most of the domestic staff with her at the Pool ; and
really we got on wonderfully well. The engineer & Co.
had a big time with the fragments, which were by no
means inconsiderable, for some of them had been out
with my shot-gun the day before, and brought in a
brace of partridges, and the party that went with the
rifle had brought a deer.

502 Balked by the State

‘ To-night a Frenchman came along in a canoe, but
as he was better known to my colleague, Clark, than to
myself, and as Clark has his wife with him to fix up
things, I only played the host to the extent of a cup of
tea, and then handed him on. He comes from a point
ten miles up stream on the other bank — has a bad tooth,
which he wants drawn, but must have an anaesthetic !
Can’t face the music without ! And while I can draw
a tooth if a man has nerve enough to look at the
forceps, I don’t feel equal to holding his head up
while I drag out the stump of a wisdom tooth from his
lower jaw.

‘ This much by way of introduction, and letting you
into something of an idea of my circumstances. Oh, but
I’ve not finished the introduction yet, for I meant to
have told you something of my immediate circumstances.
Time 8 p.m. I’m seated at the top of my dining-table
(in top-boots to circumvent the mosquitoes) ; at the other
end of the table are three boys — the cook and one of
the brickmakers playing draughts, and Dalla (engineer’s
mate) reading a book.

‘ Dalla is the boy who used to “ lay the table,” but
who did not, as Isabel told somebody, “ lay the eggs.”
The cook is in “ undress ” uniform, and yesterday he was
all glorious in khaki and felt (coat is., pants iod., hat
y^d.), and I took his photo ! Dalla and the brickmaker
are in butcher’s blue ; I’m in my shirt-sleeves, but I’ve a
collar on and a tie ! While my French visitor was here
I wore a white jacket, also a black “ cummerbund,” but
as soon as I had “passed him on,” I lapsed into the
liberty of braces, though I am not sure but that I shall
have to don the jacket again, for the mosquitoes are
making light of shirt and undervest, and boring through
them to get my blood ! But I’m not telling you how it

Success in Colonizing 503

is that, though in my Congo home, I’m living a bachelor
life^-of course it is because my wife is away.’

There was sickness at Stanley Pool, and also at
Bolobo. He himself has not been well. Early in
February, however, he starts up river on another voyage,
marked at the outset by many provoking delays. He
fears that these delays may prevent his making the
journey south from Stanley Falls upon which his heart is
set. It would be a great disappointment to him ; but he
would take it calmly, believing simply that his way
was determined by wisdom greater than his own. He
was twenty days reaching Upoto, and reports having had
a miserable time during part of the journey, being shut
up in his cabin with fever and cold.

His letters en voyage are numerous, and most of
them contain references to the distress and disappoint-
ment inflicted upon him by the steadfast refusal of the
State to grant new sites.

From ‘ near the Lubi River/ on March io, he writes
a long letter to Mr. Baynes, containing an important
pronouncement on the defects of the Congo State system.
‘ I am not a little concerned about a matter in which

I think ’s influence might be very beneficially

exercised. I want you, when the occasion offers, to
bring to his notice the fact that the Congo State is doing
little or nothing towards the development among the
natives of a class whose great interest it shall be to

maintain the status quo. understands how much

British success in colonizing has been dependent upon
the aim of our administrators to make it to the interest
of an important, and, as far as may be, a numerous class
to support the Government. . . .

‘South Africa is apparently destined to become a
white man’s country, in a sense that can never be true of

504 Balked by the State

the Congo. The white man by mere force of numbers
can possibly always dominate the position south of the
Zambesi ; but it is hopeless for him to think of doing so
to the north. The power to be firmly established on the
Congo is one that shall be based upon the self-interest
of the people, or upon that of a leading class. Very con-
siderable enlightenment is being acquired by the natives
in the whole of the black man’s belt of Africa. As
soldiers, many of the ttite of the present generation of
Congo men are widely travelled, and have developed a
wonderful amount of resourcefulness, and, at the same
time, have come to understand in how many directions
their privileges and liberty are being curtailed. Instead
of the creation of a large class who recognize it as to
their interest to support the Government, the very reverse
is the case ! The gradual development of a more or less
educated community, with a personal interest in the
exploitation of the resources of their country, could be
counted upon to lend stability to the authority under
which it prospered.

‘ The world is now too old, and the circumstances of
the tropics are too adverse, to allow of the Congo being
successfully administered without the intelligent co-
operation of the heads of the people, or without very
cogent appeals to the self-interest of at least a very
considerable section. Educational facilities for the in-
telligent, and business opportunities for the enterprising,
would soon create a class whose sympathies would be in
favour of a stable Government. . . .

‘ Britain would find it difficult to maintain her
authority among Africans, if she had to depend, in the
last resort, upon African troops, though she can draw
levies from the extreme corners of the continent. The
Congo people are all neighbours, speaking languages (all

Alongside the ‘Wheel’ 505

derived from a by no means remote mother tongue)
which allow of the lingua francay in course of evolution,
being spoken and largely understood from Banana on
the coast to Lado on the Nile ! They all belong to one
great family, are in no way separated by differences of
creed, and are fast forgetting their old inter-tribal feuds.

I have met officials who are by no means blind to the
possibilities that are suggested by such facts, but the
Congo service is not generally regarded as a career, so
the possibilities are not taken seriously. “ It will last my
time,” I have heard as a full and sufficient reply in
several instances.

‘ In writing as I do I would not have you think that
I apprehend any immediate difficulty. The difficulty I
foresee is yet some distance in the future, but how far,
is not to be forecast. If the developments since the
founding of the Congo State are continued at the same
pace, great changes will have to be provided for a few
years hence, and these changes can only be intelligently
appreciated and provided for by men who make the
Congo service a life-career. Doubtless, “ things will last
my time ; ” but it would be an infinite satisfaction for
me to see them shaping away from instead of towards
disaster.

* Forgive me, my dear Mr. Baynes, for bothering you
with my thoughts on this topic. They are written as I
stand alongside the “ wheel ” on the “ Peace,” and I fear
they may seem very incoherent ; you will, however,
recognize the importance of the subject on which I write,
though you fail to see the wisdom of my suggestions
and as possibly the opportunity may occur for your
securing the attention of those who alone are able to
deal with the matter, I commend them to your very
serious thought.’

506 Balked by the State

Grenfell reached Yakusu on March 20, after a long
and most trying voyage. His stay there was utterly dis-
tressful. He was seriously ill for a fortnight himself,
and sorrow was heaped upon sorrow for him, by the
illness and death of his young colleague, George Moore,
who was to have accompanied him upon his journey
south. Moore died on Easter Sunday, the death that
was transfigured by faith in Him Who is the Resurrection
and the Life. Of course, in the sad circumstances, Gren-
fell’s friends at Yakusu endeavoured to dissuade him
from his projected journey ; but he said, ‘ If God gives
me the strength to go, I am going on ; 5 and he went
Some few notes only of this journey can be presented.

On the eve of starting he wrote to Mr. Hawkes :
‘ This event [the death of Moore] has resulted in the
postponing of the start from April 1 5 to 20 (to-morrow),
and all being well the “ Peace ” will take me up to the
foot of the Falls by about three o’clock to-morrow. While
the two canoes I have had fitted with roofs over the
middle sections are being got round the seventh cataract
(as the last of the Stanley Falls is called), my belongings
and myself will find our way by the road that has been
made to smooth water beyond.

‘ There are six other cataracts to be passed before the
Stanley Falls series will be behind us (five days’ hard
work), and then we shall have open water for nearly
three hundred miles, or to about fifty miles from Nyangwe.
I am hoping to get as far as Kasongo’s town, forty miles
beyond Nyangwe ; but man proposes, God disposes : I
am in His hands. One of the young men in my com-
pany was sold away from Kasongo’s some fifteen or
sixteen years ago, and has never since seen his home.
I have also another young man with me from the same
district, but he has only been absent some five or six

5°7

At Nyangwe

years. Both are members of our Bolobo Church, and
the elder of the two is a very earnest and capable worker,
quite a good speaker, and I am hoping with his help to
hold some interesting services.’

To Mr. Thomas Lewis.

Mulamba Shambola, Lualaba River, May io.

‘ It is Sunday evening, and I am having a quiet time
in camp, and naturally enough I’m thinking of old times
and old friends, and also my still unfulfilled promise to
write to you. You will be wondering where Mulamba
Shambola is. Well, it is really on the Congo, which
beyond Stanley Falls is mostly known as the Lualaba.
Another fifty miles to the south and thirty to the east,
and I shall be at Nyangwe, the place where Livingstone
stayed for quite a time on his last and memorable
journey, and where he saw such terrible results of the
Arab sway as moved him to make those soul-stirring
appeals to Christendom which did so much towards the
founding of Central African Missions a quarter of a
century ago. If God wills, I shall be spending next
Sunday in Nyangwe.*

To the Rev. Lawson Forfeitt.

Nyangwe, May 24.

‘ My farthest point this time was Kasongo’s, some
forty miles beyond where I am staying the Sunday and
writing this short note. The journey has been a most
interesting one, and I have learned many things it was
impossible to learn save by going over the ground.’

This letter contains many interesting facts which lack
of space rules out, and concludes : ‘ I think I told you
I had not been very well. I’m all right again now,
thank God ! On the sixth day after leaving the Falls
I came to a stop, and almost turned back, but after a
few days’ rest I was well enough to go on.’

508 Balked by the State

By the middle of June he was at Yalemba, on the
return journey, lamenting that, ‘ the cloud caused by the
refusal of the State to grant the sites for which we
applied has been over me all the while I have been
away south. I returned safely a few days ago, to find
my mails waiting for me, and the position in no way
mended by the announcement in the March Bulletin
Official of 2500 acres having been ceded to the
Premontrant Fathers in that same district to which
we are looking/

To the Rev. Lawson Forfeitt.

Upoto, July 5.

‘ I reached Yalemba nearly a month ago, but since
that time have done little or nothing. The enclosed
letter [quoted above] is the only thing in the way of
correspondence that I have attempted. The fact is,
I have been unwell again — enteritis, dysentery, etc.
Williams reached Yalemba just as the dysentery was
declaring itself, and brought me down to Basoko, that
I might see the doctor. We stayed there from the
Friday till the Monday, by which time the symptoms
were much less serious, and then came on here, arriving
on the 3rd. . . .

‘ If I am well enough, I shall be making a start on
the 8th. If I continue to make the progress I have
made during the past few days, I shall be quite equal to
the journey by the time Tuesday comes round, though
just now I’m very shaky. The attack was very severe
while it lasted, and I suffered a good deal, but I’m quite
convalescent now/

To Mr. Baynes.

Upoto, July 6.

* I pray the Committee may not be discouraged
because of this rebuff. There’s an infinitude of work

‘She will Last my Time’ 509

to be done on the Congo ! If we cannot for the present
obtain other stations, we must enlarge our operations
at the points we already occupy. We must establish
schools and out-stations, teach the people to read, and
give them the Gospel in print in their own dialects. . . .
God give us more love, more wisdom, and more of the
power of His Spirit for the Work ! *

During August his occupations are various, as usual.
They include a long, important and statesmanlike letter
to the Vice-Governor, urging the appointment of a Special
Commissioner, ‘to be charged with the investigation of
certain matters which appeal to me as important for the
well-being of the people and of the State itself.*

A letter in the same sense was despatched by
him to King Leopold. Also he had both steamers on
the slip-way, and writes : ‘ The poor old “ Peace ” is in a
really bad way, but I shall have to patch her up somehow
for a year or two yet. Perhaps she will last my time 1
As soon as she is ready, I am proposing to go up the
Kwango ; and by the end of the year I hope to be
starting for Yalemba again, to do something serious
there.5

At the end of August Grenfell and Lawson
Forfeitt met at Stanley Pool, to talk over important
matters. They also had interviews with the Vice-
Governor, who happened to be there at the time, on
Congo State affairs. As a result Grenfell wrote, urging
the Committee to call Mr. Forfeitt home, for conference
respecting the critical situation on the Congo.

In his letter to Mr. Baynes he said : £ I very strongly
urge the Committee of the Baptist Missionary Society to
call our Congo Secretary to England, to confer with him.
... I believe Bentley is with me in believing that no one

510 Balked by the State

takes a saner view of matters than our Secretary. . . .
Mr. Forfeitt being the legal representative of the Society,
being also “ well seen ” by the authorities, and enjoying
the fullest confidence of his colleagues, as well as by reason
of his long experience in more or less delicate negotiations
with the Government, is marked out as the one member
of our Society peculiarly fitted to advise with our
Committee at the present juncture/

This appeal was also endorsed by Bentley, and in
response a cablegram was despatched by Mr. Baynes to
Mr. Forfeitt, recalling him to England for a time.

As Grenfell had been far from well, Mr. Forfeitt
advised him to seek advice of Dr. Sims, of Matadi.
Seeing that Grenfell could not face the two days’ journey
to Matadi by train, Dr. Sims most kindly met him at
Tumba (half-way), to which point he and Mr. Forfeitt
travelled together from the Pool.

To the Rev. Lawson Forfeitt, who is about to

START FOR ENGLAND.

Kinshasa, September u.
‘With regard to the Commission for the Protection
of Natives,1 both Bentley and I, in view of the difficulty
in securing a sitting (by reason of the long distances
separating the members of the said Commission princi-
pally), have availed ourselves on several occasions of the
facilities afforded us for addressing the Governor-
General direct, in accordance with terms specially
inserted when the Commission was reconstituted. We
flatter ourselves that our communications have been as
well received as those of the United Commission, and that
they have been effective in calling attention to the points
raised. All being well, we leave for Bolobo on the 14th/
On the journey he had an interview with the British

1 As to which there had been much criticism in England.

Accident to the ‘Peace’ 5x1

Consul, who was on his way down river, after making
investigations as to atrocities, and affirmed that having
‘ only commenced his inquiries as to the state of affairs
on the Upper Congo, he has secured a mass of terrible
evidence.’

After his interview with the British Consul Grenfell
promptly wrote to the Secretary of State of the Congo
Independent State, Brussels, resigning his place on the
Commission for the Protection of the Natives, being
convinced that it had chiefly been intended as a ‘ blind,’
and that the Congo authorities were responsible for the
mis-government and atrocities accompanying the system
in force.

To Mr. Baynes.

Bolobo, October 9.

* This week I’ve been much upset by an accident to
the “ Peace.” She was carried from her moorings by
a heavy storm on Monday night, and only narrowly
escaped being entirely lost. The enclosed photograph will
give you some idea as to the repairs I have to make
before carrying out my proposed Kwango journey, which
cannot now be made till early in December.’

To the Rev. Lawson Forfeitt.

Bolobo, November 14.

‘ I am not without hope that by the time you get to
England Congo questions will be so far before the world
that a specialist like yourself from the field will be able to
afford very welcome help at many points, and especially
to demonstrate to how serious a degree Article VI. of the
General Act of Berlin has been disregarded. In 1885
Bentley was on the spot at the psychological moment,
and did valiant service. I trust you may be specially
helped, and have the right word given you in very
gracious measure ! ’

512

Balked by the State

Grenfell had intimate and confidential correspondence
with the British Consuls, and was able to render them
valuable help in their work. On December 18 he wrote
from s.s. * Peace/ Bwemba, to the Rev. Lawson Forfeitt :
‘ Enclosed you will find a letter I have written to Consul
Casement, in reply to that he sent me through you, some
time before you left for England. You will kindly
forward it for me. You might show Mr. Baynes what
I have written/

Then he tells of recent incidents of mis-government
and says : ‘ I tell you of this, that you may be prepared
for arguments Brussels will very naturally use. I am
sending under another cover copies of sundry communi-
cations which have come into my hands. I have received
permission to pass them on to you for your use, if you
find them of service. ... I am here on my way to
the Kwango. Expect to be back at Bolobo at the close
of January/

To the Rev. J. Howell.

Kalakitina, Kwango River, December 26.

‘ I have just finished my seventh day up the Kasai
and the Kwango. In the Kasai we averaged sixteen
knots per diem, and on the Kwango we are not doing
twelve ! So far, we have stopped from six to ten times
each day, to get up steam to get round strong points —
have been swept back by the current most ignominiously
on several occasions ! I have never had to face such a
continuous body of strong water, and the poor old
“ Peace,” I suppose, was never in worse fettle for it. We
have ninety knots to do on the Kwango before we reach
the rapids, and about the same distance to do beyond,
by canoe, if our programme is carried out. This will
take us a few miles south of Kibokolo, but how far to
east is not at all certain/

Inadequate Rejoicing 513

To the Rev. Lawson Forfeitt (in England).

Stanley Pool, February 3, 1904.

4 I’m very much “ played out,” and want a quiet time.
The Conference with its three sessions per day, on the
top of the stress of the Kwango journey, has been a bit
too trying for one of my years/

During this year (1904) the matter of new sites was
ever present to Grenfell’s mind. He took the keenest
interest in Mr. Lawson Forfeitt’s mission to England, and
was well pleased to have Mr. Baynes’s warm approval
of the suggestion which led to Mr. Forfeitt’s temporary
recall. For some time he hoped that since the State had
occupied a site at Mundungu on the Itimbiri river which
the Society had purchased, Mr. Forfeitt might be able to
negotiate an exchange of Mundungu for Yalemba.

Mr. Forfeitt did ultimately secure a site at Yalemba,
but only on lease ; and to this day the State holds the
Mission property at Mundungu, and takes a rent for
Yalemba. Meanwhile the long delay, and the persistent
check to Grenfell’s forward-reaching purpose, so depressed
him that he often had to take shame to himself for the
inadequacy of his rejoicing in the splendid progress of
the Mission at Yakusu and Upoto, where the eagerness
of the people for instruction was intense and wide-spread
beyond precedent.

To Mr. Baynes.

Bolobo, February 20.

‘ Your kindly references to myself afforded me much
consolation, for, as I need hardly tell you, I have felt the
stress of our recent circumstances in no light measure.
However, upon no one’s shoulders has the burden fallen
more heavily than upon your own, and you have our
very sincerest sympathy in what has been involved by
the year of the Congo crisis, as well as by the work in

5H Balked by the State

China and other fields. Our prayers often ascend on
your behalf. . . .

‘ Our young people are greatly pleased to have the
message of thanks from the Committee for what they
did on the night of October 5 in saving the “ Peace ”
from breaking up on the rocks. It is a recognition
which will not be thrown away upon them. Like the
rest of the world, they like to know their efforts are
appreciated/

To Miss Hawkes.

Bolobo, April 11.

* If there are some things that cause anxiety, we
have great compensations in the good news from
Yakusu, where the desire to learn to read still continues
to spread in the most encouraging manner. From
Upoto also we hear of the branch schools inland making
really wonderful progress, and of there being good
promise of the “ reading fever ” catching on there
also. . . .

‘ The Government is introducing quite a new system
of taxation, but it is altogether too elaborate, in my
opinion, to be practicable, and lends itself, or promises
to lend itself in the hands of unscrupulous agents, to
very serious abuses. We shall see how it works out
when it comes into operation. . . .

‘ We have had baptismal services most months lately,
though we are admitting only two or three at a time.
So you see our little Church continues to grow. Our
Day schools and Sunday schools are also prospering, and
we shall soon have to think of more accommodation.
Yesterday there were nearly two hundred and fifty
scholars present, and just now, as we are having it
particularly hot, it is no small effort that is required to
work such a crowd/

[.Photo : G. Grenfell.

THE B.M.S. MISSION CHURCH, BOLOBO.

‘PRINTING HOUSE SQUARE,’ BOLOBO.

The Recent Revelations 515

To Mr. Joseph Hawkes.

Bolobo, April 14.

‘ You at home will be laying most stress upon news
from the seat of war [Boer War]. Missionaries and
State people alike out here look first for news concerning
Congo affairs, for every one regards the anti- Congo
campaign as a serious matter. You can easily imagine
the Protestant missionary is not a popular man just now
on the Congo. However, I am glad to believe that
there is not one of us who cares for being popular or not,
so long as he can do the right thing.

‘ For myself, I may say that the recent “ revelations ”
are as much revelations to me as they are to the world
at large. I had come to believe that such things were
no longer possible, and when I met Consul Casement
coming down river with a mass of evidence I was bound
to respect, I was so upset that I almost turned the
“ Peace ” down river, that I might go at once to Europe
and represent matters in the highest places.

‘ However, I did wisely in resisting the impulse, for
I could have done nothing which has not since been
done in a much more emphatic manner than would have
been possible to one who had no direct evidence to give.
I hear of quite a number of prosecutions of both white
and coloured agents of the State, and expect there will
be some severe sentences.

‘ As I have said, times and again, the laws are good
and sufficient. The difficulty lies in securing their
observance. The present enforcement of them will
exert very salutary influence ; but it will remain still
to provide for that influence becoming continuous, and
not temporary in its operation.

‘ Some friends seem to think that because my name
has not figured prominently, I have done nothing. As I

516 Balked by the State

wrote to Mr. Stead in response to his request for my
view, “It was not demonstrated that, because I did
not write to the papers, I was not moving at all.” It
would of course be presumptuous for me to say that
anything I have written to Boma or Brussels, or that I
have said to the Governor-General in the three interviews
with which he honoured me last year, has influenced the
policy of the Congo State. However, seeing that steps
now being taken in certain directions accord with opinions
I have ventured to express, it may be that my views
were not absolutely without weight in endorsing the
need for certain reforms, which must have been apparent
to every experienced onlooker who had seriously studied
Congo matters on the spot.

‘Naturally, I have been much pained by certain
reflections in the denominational papers. However, I
can sincerely say I have taken the course in which I felt
I could best serve the interests of the people, and that I
have not been as quiescent as some might imagine would
be easy to prove, if I cared to enter upon a campaign of
self-defence. For your information, however, I will say
(you won’t misunderstand me, I’m sure) that by last mail
Consul Casement wrote thanking me for the “part” I
had “ played,” and for the “ assistance ” I had rendered
to the cause in which he had been so busy for the past
few months. In a recent circular from the Mission
House the Committee assured us they were not
indifferent, as had been asserted, but that they would
sympathetically receive any evidence as to the need for
reform on the Congo.

‘ I enclose an extract from the Almanack du Congo.
The writer is a Lieutenant in the Force Publique. He
touches the crux of the whole matter — finance! You
might imagine from what he writes that it is only the

Insufficient Pay 517

Concession Companies who pay such small salaries, but
I can assure you that a very large proportion of the State
agents do not receive more than the companies give.
As yet Belgium does not understand that Colonial officers
must be specially trained and adequately paid, if they
are in any way to steer clear of the thousand and one
difficulties of Colonial administration.

‘ The State, in my opinion, will not only need more
money to pay for better service, but will have to
find it in face of a diminishing revenue from present
sources. This, of course, is only “ opinion.” But, seeing
that the last annual shipments of rubber were less than
those of the previous year, and that rumour has it that
the shortage will be really serious this year (some say by
as much as a third !) obviously my opinion is not
absolutely baseless. Financial pressure will not be more
easily reckoned with than that of public opinion, and just
what is to come of it all is not to be foreseen.

* Poor Carrie, as the daughter of a Protestant
missionary, will not be having a pleasant time of it in
Brussels, I fear. Last mail, for the first time for a very
long while, brought us no letters from her, and, somehow,
I have never felt so anxious on her behalf.5

To Mr. Baynes.

Bolobo, April 18.

‘ The mails just in bring me word of no advance as
regards our negotiations with Brussels re “Forward
Sites,55 nor any reference to the “ Endeavour.” I am
greatly disappointed.

‘ As you are aware, I have maintained that the lack
of success we have had in our recent appeals to Brussels
was the outcome of the political situation in Belgium,
which made it difficult for his Majesty to maintain the
friendly attitude of earlier years. This means of

518 Balked by the State

consolation, I fear, is no longer valid, for Le Mouvement
des Missions Catholique for February, to hand three days
ago, contains the following : — “ The Welle Mission is
making a new extension, by the founding of a third post
at Gumbali’s, to the north-east. The recrudescence of
the Protestant propaganda in the mission field, the
request by his Majesty the King Leopold II., who wished
to prevent (prtvenir ) the installation of Lutheran
ministers, and the repeated requests of the natives, have
determined our missionaries to delay no longer in putting
this project into execution.”

4 The publication of such a paragraph is most
significant, and distresses me not a little. It has the
ring of an official injunction about it, indicating a great
deal more than is on the surface. ... It is too late in
the world's history for the course of Evangelical Missions
to be more than temporarily stopped.’

To Mr. Thomas Lewis.

Bolobo, April 18.

‘ Yours of December 16 must have crossed my last to
your good self. Did I not write you a little earlier than
that date, telling you of my trouble with the “ Peace,”
and indulging in a sort of general wail ? Your letter did
my heart good, and cheered me up not a little when I
got it. It was like “ a draught of the elixir of life out
of a quart jug.” (Tell your brother’s wife, when next you
see her, I’m grateful to her for the simile !) I could
almost feel the grip of your hand, and see the kindly
light in Jennie’s eyes. Eh, Tom lad, the memories of
such are very precious in a far-off land ! ’

On May 3, ten miles south of the Equator, Upper
Congo, he continued his letter to Mr. Lewis, as follows :
“ I’ve just put a line on the previous sheet, to complete
the sentence I left unfinished upon the cry of “ Sail ho ! ”

No Stone Unturned

519

announcing the arrival of the steamer bringing the State
functionary charged with the organization of the new
“ fiscal ” system for the Congo.

‘ It seems as though the State, in revenge for the
part played by Protestant missionaries, were going to
worry us and make things as difficult and bothersome as
possible. People in England have no conception of the
“ red tape ” of continental officialdom, and the red tape
of a continental colony is even more( vexatious and inane.

4 I have always been a law-abiding citizen, and so I
set to work at once upon lists and declarations, that I
might get them off my mind ; but it took me just four
solid days, and by the time I got through my head was
in such a state that letter-writing was beyond me, so
I put the finishing touches upon my preparations for the
steamer journey, and started up river a week ago.

‘ I fear, notwithstanding my efforts to comply with
the law, that some of our “ orphans ” may be taken from
our care, and handed over to Roman Catholic missions ;
the officer informing us that “being a Roman Catholic
State, it had no power to place orphans under other than
Roman Catholic tutelage/’ They won’t let us have more
land, and now threaten to take some of our children
away ! I fear they will leave no stone unturned that
can possibly be put in our way to hinder us.

4 You see, the Roman Catholic politicians in Belgium
are the party in power just now, and the clerics are
having it all their own way. I wonder if they hope one
day to get hold of the ropes, and pull them in England ?
I fancy, however, that at the first sign of such a tendency
the Britisher would make as clean a sweep as they
appear to be making at this time in France. It is just
that sort of thing that John Bull would get awfully wild
about. . . .

520 Balked by the State

‘ On the second day out from Bolobo, we visited the
out-station at Bongende, founded by Nkosi, and took
part in examining the school he commenced, and at one
of the services heard the people sing one of the hymns
(No. 7) he translated for them. The language spoken
there is quite different from that spoken at any other
of our stations, and this little hymn-book is the first
printed in it. There were more than a hundred present
at the service, and if it had not been market day we
should have had many more. Day scholars number
about sixty.

‘ In the afternoon of the same day we visited the
new outpost where poor Nkosi 1 lies buried. The white
cross which marks his grave at the top of a cliff, about a
hundred feet above the river, is visible from some two
or three miles down stream, in fact, it makes quite a
landmark.

4 A few weeks more than twenty years have elapsed
since I first landed at the foot of the same cliff, and was
driven off at the point of the native spears. It was
already sunset when I arrived, and it was two hours
before we found a sandbank upon which we could camp
for the night. The reception was very different this
time. The teacher and a little crowd of school children
stood on the beach to welcome us, and I spent a
very pleasant time in the village on the plateau just
beyond.5

To the Rev. Lawson Forfeitt.

Bolobo, June 26.

‘ The “ Livingstone 55 came in last evening, bringing
the Armstrongs and Ellerys, homeward-bound. Mr.
Armstrong kindly takes charge of an important letter

1 The teacher Nkosi was drowned by the upsetting of his canoe during
a tornado.

521

Keeping Sabbath

of mine for Mr. Baynes, inside the cover of which I
enclose this. He is also taking a twenty-page letter
from Mr. Stannard to Dr. Guinness, detailing recent
horrors (last month) that have transpired in the A.B.I.R.
district — stories of cannibalism, etc., by A.B.I.R. sentries,
following upon murder of women and children. Photo-
graphs of mutilated remains and two charred bones from
one of these feasts are also on their way to Dr. Guinness.
The State will have to move soon, and that very energeti-
cally, if it is to retain any vestige of the respect of its
oldest friends. I am more distressed than I can say.’

In a letter of June 30, Grenfell tells of preparations
for another trip up river, and on July 31 addressed the
following to Miss Hawkes, of Birmingham, from S.S.
“ Peace,” near Equatorville : —

‘ It is Sunday, and somehow on Sundays my heart
seems specially drawn out to “ dear ones at home.” Pve
just finished a letter to the children, and now begin this
to you, in the hope of getting ready for the post-office,
which we hope to reach in a few hours’ time. When we
reached the military camp at Irebo yesterday, we found
the Commandant there was very anxious about one of
his men who had a bad arm, so I offered to take him on
to the State station at Coquilhatville, some five miles
beyond the Equator, where there is a doctor.

‘ Last night we reached one of our wooding camps,
set to work and cut quite a pile of firewood, in readiness
for making a good start early on Monday, after a quiet
day to-day. However, this morning we found the poor
man with the bad arm had had no sleep, and I did not
at all like the idea of keeping him in his misery that we
might rest. I therefore called my two headmen, Bungudi,
the engineer, and Mawango, the carpenter (who is acting
as mate and purser on board), and asked them what they

522 Balked by the State

thought the Master would like us to do under the circum-
stances. They went and had a look at the poor sufferer,
and a talk to two or three of the crew, and in a minute
or two I heard them shouting for the fireman to “fire
up.” So, although it is Sunday, we are under way, and
steaming ahead.

‘Bungudi you know. Mawango is one of the three
little “ stowaways ” who some fifteen years ago hid them-
selves among the firewood to escape from a slave caravan.
You must have often heard me tell the story.

‘ Four days ago we had an awkward accident, for we
smashed one of the cylinder covers, and had not a spare
one on board to replace it. With the remaining engine
we steamed to a sandbank a little ahead, to consider
what was to be done. At first I thought there was
nothing for it but to go back to Bolobo, for we had more
than two thousand miles of running before us to complete
our programme.

‘As the cylinder cover had been broken into six
pieces, and as one of the crew reported having seen one
piece go overboard, Bungudi, the engineer, could not
patch it together, but Mawango, the carpenter, made a
new one of wood.1 This is our third day of steaming
with it, and it does wonderfully well. A little steam
gets through the pores of the wood, but only a little, and
each day the escape becomes less and less. So, except
that it cost us nearly a day and a half on the sandbank,
we are not much the worse. It might have been a serious
accident to life or limb, but God’s good providence, that
has so markedly shielded the poor old “Peace” and
those on board, still continues to protect them ! As I
get older, I realize more and more my dependence upon

1 This wooden shell is now in the Baptist Missionary Society Museum
in London.

Tsetse Flies 523

God’s presence and help ; and more and more do I
wonder at His goodness to me.

‘Wednesday. Just at this point I have had a bite
from one of the tsetse flies that are credited with
doing so much harm among the natives. I enclose the
harmless-looking enemy, which I’ve managed to pinch
between my finger and thumb. We’ve been on the
look-out for tsetse flies for years, but did not imagine we
had them in the familiar “biyiyi” of the people. (Just
had another bite, so I send both along !) They swarm
in certain places, and make life a trial for the time
being. Happily, they all hide themselves when the sun
goes down ; then, however, the mosquitoes begin. The
puzzle is, where do these creatures get the germs of the
sleeping sickness from ? That they distribute them when
they bite is now a well-established fact. Fortunately, it
is quite possible to have the germs of the disease in the
blood without much apparent harm being done ; it is
only when they get into the spinal fluid that they induce
the characteristic symptoms of sleeping sickness.

‘ Since starting from Bolobo I’ve heard from Patience
that three of the cases I left have terminated in death.
Poor Bolobo ! I thought I had reason to hope that so
far as that place was concerned the worst was past, but
it seems as though it will have to sink yet lower before
things really begin to mend. All the fifty cases we
counted in December last, except one about which we
were mistaken, have proved fatal, and it is very doubtful
if any of the fifty or so cases I left will survive till I get
back. I suppose all who are at all susceptible will take
the malady, for there seems to be no way of checking it.
How many will be left, I wonder, when it runs its course ?
It is very, very sad to see the poor people dying off
without being able to help them, and all the more sad

524 Balked toy the State

because their minds become lethargic as well as their
bodies, and it is impossible to rouse them to think of the
things we have so long been trying to teach them.

‘ Our little Church, as yet, has suffered but very lightly
— the better life the Christians live has, no doubt, helped
them to resist the disease. Whether the natives are
beginning to see there is a difference in our favour I don’t
know, but something is making them very much more
ready to listen to our message. Our services are crowded
as they have never been before. Some are beginning to
talk about building a bigger chapel. I’ve told them it
is their place to find the money, and that if they will do
that, I will draw the plans and give any needful help
that way.

‘News from Yakusu continues to be most satisfactory,
and is indeed very encouraging. The “ Goodwill,” which
has just come down from that place, brought big orders
for more books to meet the demand for them. The old
books are being used up very fast. When the beginners
have got through their primers they find other beginners
waiting to take them up. Many are learning to read
from letters made in the sand.

‘ When we were on a sandbank the other day mending
our engine, the little boys while playing at building sand-
houses found a crocodile’s nest with seventy-two eggs.
Each egg was three inches long and two inches round
the middle — a string of eggs six yards long in one nest.
When they had taken the eggs they modelled a big
crocodile in sand, and left it for mother crocodile on her
return to the nest. The creatures kill lots of people
every season, and so everybody is glad when one of
them is killed, or when their nests are found.’

An Impracticable Scheme 525

To the Rev. Lawson Forfeitt.

S.S. 4 Peace,’ near Ukataraka, August 13.

‘ The State ought really to take into consideration the
Loika site, when they deal with our request for Yalemba.
I suppose, however, that the present strong feeling against
English missionaries will make them unwilling to have us
at either place. But the “sacred rights of property”
ought to avail us something. His Majesty himself used
the words I have quoted. . . .

‘ Like yourself, I don’t know what the end of it all
will be, but I’m still looking for some good to come.
The Inspectors and Commissaires are still “inquiring.”
Some officials are looking forward to increased collections
of produce when the prestations of the decree of
November last (forty hours’ work per month for each
adult) are enforced, and seem to quite anticipate the
feasibility of the project. It can’t be done without an
immense increase of officials, possibly also of soldiers.
Personally, I still regard the whole scheme as impracti-
cable.’

To Mr. Baynes.

S.S. ‘ Peace,’ August 22.

‘ If all goes well, I hope to be at Yakusu in a fort-
night, and to spend some little time in going over the
district between Yalemba and that place, in company
with Mr. Stapleton. The year will have nearly run out,
if not quite, before I return down river. What a joy it
would be for me if in the meantime news should come
enabling a commencement to be made at Yalemba!
The teachers I have placed there are more than a
hundred miles from Yakusu, and need more oversight
than we are able to give them. The people, too, are
clamouring for a missionary.’

526 Balked by the State

To Mr. Baynes.

S.S. ‘ Peace,’ Yakusu, September io.

‘ I arrived here on the 3rd inst., having spent a couple
of days at Yalemba, where the youngmen I left in charge
have built a good clay- walled house, 50 feet by 16, and
have nearly finished a store of equal size. School work
is being regularly maintained, but the register of attend-
ances is not what I hoped it might be. Services in the
town are also maintained ; at the one at which I was
present I counted a hundred youths between six and
sixteen, and some two hundred others. My helpers at
this place have visited the neighbouring district, and
have found many more villages than we expected to
find, and a population much in excess of previous
estimates, scattered in the forest, a few miles from the
river-bank.

‘Here at Yakusu, also, further knowledge of the
country is proving that our estimates as to villages and
people were below the mark. I refer to this, that you
may not be disheartened by the reports concerning up-
river prospects generally. If you had regarded similar
reports a few years ago, there would have been no
Yakusu Station to-day, and the history of our Society
would have been minus one of its most remarkable
chapters. God’s Spirit is very manifestly working among
the people. We are all compelled to allow it is not
our doing, but God’s.

‘All being well, on the 13th Mr. Stapleton and
myself start for a three weeks’ voyage among the out-
posts on the river-banks, dependent upon this Station.
I came upon the first of them seventy miles down
stream ; quite a crowd of young people stood on the
river side, and welcomed us by singing a translation of
“There is a Happy Land.” At Irundo, up a long,

After Twenty Years 527

narrow side channel which I visited just twenty years
ago (a place which I do not think has since been visited
by a missionary), I found a young man with a book
given him by our Yalemba teacher (Yalemba is some
twenty-five miles away), trying to teach the people to
read. It was from Irundo that Mantu Parkinson's wife
was stolen by the Arabs when she was a girl, some few
months before my first visit. The people were much
interested to hear of Aku, who is well remembered by
some of her family, as they also were to hear of my
having been there so long ago, and of the “Peace"
having loaded up with a heavy cargo of fuel, in the
shape of charred posts of their houses left standing after
the Arab raid.'

To Mr. Baynes.

S.S. * Peace,5 Lomami River, October 1.

‘ I am now on my way to the main river, after a
fortnight’s run up the Lomami, the big affluent from the
south which joins the Congo about midway between
Yalemba and Yakusu. It is just twenty years since I
previously ascended this tributary stream ; 1 and then I
turned back, after making my way against its exception-
ally strong current for something more than two hundred
miles. As the Lomami falls in Mr. Stapleton’s district,
he has joined me for this journey, that he might learn
something of its possibilities as a field for mission work ;
and also that we might together visit some twenty of the
thirty out-stations attached to Yakusu which lie on the
banks of the main river.

‘ We hoped this time to reach the limit of navigation,

1 In a letter to Miss Hawkes of the same date, referring to the visit of
twenty years before Grenfell wrote : * The people had never seen a steamer-
before, and were often hostile. Several times they attacked us with flights
of arrows from their bows, but we were always able to overcome their fears
and get into communication, and buy the needful food.’

528 Balked by the State

some eighty miles beyond our previous “ farthest,” but
we left nearly a hundred miles of more or less open
water still before us when we turned back. Had there
been a fairly good prospect of securing food for our crew
on the way, we should have faced the small rapids that
exist at this time of the year (a month or two later there
will be plenty of water everywhere) ; but as we had come
across neither villages nor people during the last four
days of our journey, there were no inducements to push
on for an even longer stretch through equally unpromising
country.

‘ We found that the people for the first hundred miles
up the Lomami speak practically the same language as
at Yakusu, so the Lokele field is proved to be even
larger than we thought. We also touched the termini
of two overland routes from the Lomami to the Congo,
and secured the names of the villages en route. From
the details given, these routes should furnish very pro-
mising lines for overland evangelistic tours, as soon as
we may be able to detail some one for this work.

‘ At our turning-point we touched the terminus of the
old Arab route, which runs north-east across the Lualaba
at Kirundu, and on to the Upper Aruwimi, in which
neighbourhood I traversed it for five marches during the
journey I made a couple of years ago. The diminished
population of the Upper Lomami is doubtless due to the
Arab raiders, who had it practically “ all their own way ”
between 1885 and 1893. I am told there are more
people in these parts than there appears to be — the
visits of the tax-gatherer resulting in the riverside
villages being abandoned for the less accessible interior.

‘ The visits to the out-stations were most inspiring.
In many of the villages the school houses were far and
away the biggest buildings, and this entirely at the cost

Choral Welcomes

529

of the natives themselves. Unfortunately, just now the
supply of books and reading cards is quite inadequate,
and in many places four or five scholars have to learn
from one card, five inches by three inches, instead of
having one apiece ; but we are taking steps to remedy
this. These out-stations, to say nothing of the pro-
spective work along the Lomami and among the thirty
or so villages that have sent deputations requesting
teachers, and where, in some cases, schools have been
built in anticipation, could keep a steamer and
missionary well employed in going to and fro and
looking after them.

‘ We were again much impressed as to the need for
better-trained teachers, but did not succeed in evolving
any scheme for producing them that we could at present
recommend to the consideration of the Committee.
Possibly half the further applications for teachers may
be met by the end of the year, but to find thirty seems
to be impossible.’

Writing to his friend, Mr. Lewis, of Birmingham,
from Yalemba, on October 11, in reference to the
voyage described in the letter to Mr. Baynes, Grenfell
says, ‘ At several of the landing-places we were
welcomed by the assembled ‘‘choir” of scholars with
their teacher, singing translations of “ Around the
throne,” “Crown Him Lord of all,” and other well-known
hymns. The singing, as singing, was often very poor,
but there was no doubting the heartiness with which
they sang. Even before the engines had stopped, and
while we were still some distance off, the strains reached
us. Remembering, what I could remember, about these
places, one is not inclined to criticize the singing. For
myself, my heart was too full, and I had to join in.

‘ Some of these places I had seen in the possession

2 M

53° Balked by the State

of the Arab raiders, some of them I had seen still
smoking after the raiders had done their worst, and
burned them out. In all of them wickedness and
cruelty had had a long, long reign, and the people had
suffered many sorrows. But now, surely, was the
beginning of better days, for was not this the begin-
ning of the rising of the “ Sun of Righteousness, with
Healing in His wings ” ? God has indeed been good
to me, to let me see the dawn of such a day ! . . .

‘ In the midst of our many difficulties it is no small
encouragement to find things progressing as they are in
this district, and that without putting the Society to any
expense for either teachers or buildings. We have
teachers in one or two villages that have never yet been
visited by the missionaries, and among the waiting
requests for teachers there are several more from places
we have not yet reached. It is not merely the desire
to read that is impelling them, for many of the
“deputations” have come with definitely expressed
anxiety about the message of which “ the Book ” tells
them. Many of them have somehow come to realize
that there are other things than those that can be
handled and felt, and that there is another world than
that in which they find themselves. We can only put
it down to the gracious working of God's Holy Spirit
upon the “Word” which has been scattered to places
beyond where it was originally sown.'

In the middle of November Grenfell is back again
at his Station, Bolobo, after long absence, and writes as
follows to his colleague, the Rev. J. Howell : ‘ The Com-
mission1 having sat for six days, left on the 12th, in the
afternoon. I've been on my back for most of the time,
but I managed to be present twice, and to make certain
1 King Leopold’s Commission of Inquiry.

53i

An Old Bogey

depositions. First of all, it was fever, now it is a
temperature often below normal that troubles me.
Yesterday morning it was a degree and a half below ;
but as it is half a degree nearer normal this morning,
I’m hoping I have turned the corner, and that I shall feel
equal to starting for the Pool on Wednesday. I intend
taking the “ Bristol,” so as to relieve you of the Bolobo
loads, and thus simplify your programme a bit. I am
proposing that the “ Peace ” should go to Monsembe
early in January, and on to Bopoto with C. J. D/s
things. But of that we will talk together. . . . The
Commission goes to Lukolela, to Ikoko, Bolenge,
Lolanga, and then to Monsembe.’

To the Rev. Lawson Forfeitt (in England).

S.S. * Peace,’ Kinshasa, November 22.

‘ The apologists for the State must be very hard up
for arguments, when they trot out that old bogey of the
trading missionary ! I’ve heard nothing of it out here
since our previous correspondence on this topic.

‘The Commission stayed a week at Bolobo, and
went forward on the 12th, evidently much impressed by
the evidence submitted. Scrivener and his witnesses are
likely to be called to Boma in January, when Malo-
Malo is to be tried. Lake Mantumba, Lulongo River,
Monsembe and on beyond was the programme before
the Commissioners when they left Bolobo. . . .

‘ I’m much concerned to note the serious deficit of
Baptist Missionary Society revenue, and sincerely hope
that matters may soon be mended.’

To Mr. Baynes.

Bolobo, December 6.

‘ It is very significant that the way should be opened
for English Roman Catholics, and closed against us.
Evangelical Christianity does not breed the dumb cattle
beloved of officialdom ! ’

532

Balked by the State

To Mr. Baynes.

Bolobo, December 30.

‘ I am sending you no report for the past year, for,
so far as my own special purposes are concerned, I can
chronicle no progress. Ii am still waiting, as you know,
for the much-desired permission to instal at Yalemba or
to go forward. . . .

‘December of last year and January of this were
mainly spent on the Kwango and Kasai rivers. May
was devoted, in company with Mr. Harry Stonelake, to
a visit to the Ngiri, and the country to the west of
Monsembe, and between three and four months have
been given up to a journey to Yakusu, and, in company
with Mr. Stapleton, to visiting the Lomami. However, if
I have been deeply disappointed at my own failure to go
forward,1 I have been greatly rejoiced by the evidences
of real progress at Yakusu, Bopoto, Lukolela and
Bolobo.

‘ In case you have not yet received the good news
from Lukolela, I enclose Mr. Whitehead’s last letter.
During the Ngiri journey to which I have referred I
called twice at the place on the Mubangi we are now
occupying as an out-station. Mbuma, whom Mr. White-
head has placed there as a teacher, was a little boy of
about ten when as pilot’s boy he joined the crew of the
“ Peace ” on her first journey up river, more than twenty
years ago.’

Owing to the action of the State.

CHAPTER XXII

TO YALEMBA AT LAST!

Resignation of Mr. Baynes — Grenfell’s Affection for him — With-
drawal from Monsembe— Visit to Out-Stations— ‘ Keeping
School ’ — Feuds at Yalemba— Unrest among the People —
Misrepresentations— Conference at Kinshasa— Dr. Bentley’s
Death— Grenfell’s Protest against the State— A Heavy Load
for the ‘ Peace ’—The 4 Endeavour ’—Wreck of the 4 Roi des
Beiges’— Health of Missionaries.

HE year 1905 opened gloomily for Grenfell. The

deadlock in the matter of sites continued.

Obviously the State and the Roman Catholic Missions
were conspiring to make things difficult for him and
for his cause. About this time he quotes the interesting
language of a Jesuit missionary, who in a magazine
article incites the State to send all Protestant missionaries
4 out of the country.’

His health is not vigorous, and in a letter to Mr.
Lawson Forfeitt, dated January 18, referring to the trials
of the last year or two, he says : ‘ That I have been
downhearted at times and much discouraged is only
natural, and you won’t be surprised to know that as well
as suffering in spirit I have suffered in body also, though
I have not said much about it.’

Another matter weighed upon him. As far back as
February, 1904, news had come to him that the re-
signation of Mr. Baynes was impending, news which
he wrote, ‘ fills me with great apprehension. Who knows

534

To Yalemba at Last

Congo affairs as he does ? or who else can so steer us
through the present crisis ? ’ At this time, indeed, these
two men bore each other’s burdens with the painfulness
of true affection. Mr. Baynes’s letters to Grenfell are
charged with sympathy, which Grenfell reciprocated to the
full ; and as the year wore on it was gall and bitterness
to him to know that one whom he regarded as his
honoured and beloved ‘ chief,’ should have been treated by
the authorities in Brussels with signal discourtesy, letter
after letter remaining unanswered and unacknowledged.

Meanwhile, though Yalemba was calling him with
mystic iteration, he ‘ did the next thing,’ according to
his favourite motto. In February he started with Mr.
Scrivener upon a tour of the out-stations in the Bolobo
district, and enjoyed ‘ a good time, the inland posts
being especially promising.’ Nor was he always
depressed. Though ‘ the clouds, instead of dispersing,
are thickening, they will break up some day, and I am
not at all despairing about the final outcome. Between
the clouds are narrow rifts, through which I get gracious
glimpses of the coming Kingdom of our God, which
convince me more and more that all will be well in the
end.’ These words were written during a journey in
April, undertaken that he might bring the Rev. J. H.
Weeks down river from Monsembe, on his way to
Wathen, the population of Monsembe being so reduced
by State evils and other causes that the missionaries
were withdrawn, and the station left to the care of native
teachers.

As the year approaches its prime the mystic call of
Yalemba becomes irresistible. In the middle of June
Grenfell is too busy fitting the ‘Peace’ for a long
up-river journey to write much to his friends. On
June 24 he is still ‘ hanging on at Bolobo,’ waiting, if

[ Photo ; Rev. Win. Forfeitt
RIVER BANK, YALEMBA, UPPER CONGO,

YALEMBA: GENERAL VIEW OF GRENFELL’S LAST STATION, 1906.
Photo ; Rev. John Howell.

A Big Fit of ‘the Blues’ 535

haply the way may be cleared, but determined to go in
any case. And a few days later he started, making a
deliberate progress toward the goal of his desire, visiting
all the intervening stations and out-stations, and hoping
ever that news would overtake him of an open door at
Yalemba. The story of his voyage and of the realization
of his hope is told graphically in the following letter
to Mr. Thomas Lewis, dated s.s. ‘Peace/ Yalemba,
October i, 1905.

* I have just received the news I have been waiting
for so long — that our Society has at last secured
a lease for this place, and that we are free to go
on building, with a view to establishing our long-
proposed station ! I tell you I’ve had one of the longest
and biggest fits of “ the blues ” over this business that
I’ve ever had, but I trust I’m through it, and in the
strength of this trust I’m beginning the pile of long-
neglected letters that ought to have been seen to “ ages ”
ago, but which till now I have not had the heart to
touch ; and Pm beginning with yours.

* It is now three months since I left Bolobo, and, with
the exception of two spells of seven days each at this
place, the whole of the time has been spent in the
journey up river, in visiting the various outposts along
the line, and in turning aside here and there where
needful, to visit those not directly on my route. Alto-
gether we have now over a hundred and twenty of these
out-schools, of varying importance and promise ; but I
have not been able as yet to visit more than some
seventy of them, though I am hoping to increase
the number before I return.

‘ It has been a truly wonderful development of our
work, and one for which we are but ill prepared in the
way of trained teachers ; but the demand from the

536 To Yalemba at Last

people to be taught has been so urgent that we have
been compelled to send out such as we had, rather than
wait for their being more fully equipped. In more than
eighty cases the school houses have been built by the
people, and the teachers are being maintained by our
native Churches. In several cases our hands have been
forced by the people, for they have built the school
houses, and appointed teachers of their own from among
those who had learned a little more than those who
know absolutely nothing, at one or other of our schools.

‘ Of course, with such a work going on, I ought to
have kept a glad heart, and never got into “ the blues ”
at all ; but you know how my heart has been set on
going forward, and what a weary time of waiting I have
had. I fear that I’ve been terribly ungrateful about it,
for, so long as my own pet project did not move towards
accomplishment, it now seems to me as though I had
been more or less in the sulks. Well, it is one more to
be added to the terribly long list of failures, for which I
pray to be forgiven.

‘ However, I have not been under the clouds all the
time, for bright gleams have broken through again and
again ; had it not been so, I must have given up in
despair. I shall never forget one evening, a few weeks
ago, as we were looking for a good camping-place among
the reed-covered sandbanks, about half-way between this
and Yakusu. There was a threatening sunset, and we
sought a shelter from what promised to be the stormy
quarter. Then suddenly we heard strike up “All hail
the power ” (Miles Lane), from on board one of the big
fishing canoes among the reeds. We had not observed
the canoe, but the crew had recognized the “ Peace,” and
gave us what to me was a glorious welcome which will
long remain a blessed memory! We anchored right

Keeping School Afloat 537

there, and found that the boys on board this canoe and
several others (they sleep out in these canoes for weeks
together at the fishing season) had brought their lesson-
books with them, and were “ keeping school ” in the
fishing fleet, and teaching the hymns they had learned
ashore to their comrades afloat. Whose heart would not
be moved to hear “ Crown Him Lord of all ” under such
circumstances ?

‘ It was just about this same place that, twenty-one
years ago, we came first into view of the burning villages
of the big Arab slave-raid of 1884. I little thought to
live to see so blessed a change, and my heart went forth
in praise ! Yes, God’s Kingdom is surely coming ; day
by day the progress is not very apparent, but to me
there is no fact more certain in the whole realm of
Truth. The astounding thing about it is, that God is
able to make use of such poor tools !

‘ Well, having received the permission to establish
here at Yalemba, it is now for us to decide as to the
“ next thing.” It seems pretty clear that this will be a
journey to Bolobo for additional stores to proceed with
the installation, and also to put the “ Peace ” on the slip
for repairs. This latter project means going down river
before the present month is out, or it may be we shall
be caught by the low water, as we were last season, and
again prevented from making repairs that become
increasingly important as time goes by. This is an
essential, from the point of view of securing the needful
“ forward ” supplies ; but is even more important, in
view of the need for visiting our outposts in a systematic
and persistent manner. I suppose it is not necessary for
me to point out that our poorly-trained teachers — many
of them without any training at all, and placed anywhere
up to a hundred miles away from their main station — will

533 To Yalemba at Last

call for a lot of looking after, if we are to avoid difficulties
that can easily become embarrassing for ourselves and
our work.

‘Just now this part of the country is more or less in
a state of unrest ; the taxes have been greatly reduced,
and the people in several places hereabouts are expending
their energies on their own private feuds. In the village
just opposite three or four men have been killed during
the past month, and here at Yalemba last week I had to
interfere, to prevent things becoming really too serious ;
as it was, there was lots of blood flowing, and one man
seriously hurt. I got in between the rival factions, but
my poor shouting was simply nowhere when they got a
“ howl ” on, and I had to resort to a piece of bamboo I
had in my hand for making an impression. They got it
both sides indiscriminately when the lines closed up for
another charge. They were over a hundred of them,
many of them with no other covering than their shields,
and armed to the teeth with knives, spears, bows and
arrows, and all the savage panoply of the real old-time
scrimmage — paint and feathers galore. They must have
felt very ridiculous standing there, being licked with a
stick by a little old white man. There was “ glory ” in
it when they could get up close to one another and draw
blood; but this was altogether too tame, and so they
drew off, and let their tempers down. The next morning
they allowed I had done well to give them the stick,
“ for,” said they, “ if you had not interfered, somebody
would have died.” These folk are not fools— -only a
very wild species of “ wild Irishman.” 1

1 Grenfell was of good courage, but like other brave men confessed to
moments of trepidation. While staying at Underhill, in the early days of
the Mission, he sustained a fright, creepy and long-drawn out, which
remained with him in vivid memory. Lying in a canvas camp-bed at

White Men Killed

539

‘ (Just at this point I am pulled up by an incident that
will stop my letter till I know how it ends — for the canoe
I sent off a quarter of an hour ago with a letter for my
wife has capsized, and I can see with my glass the crew
of five struggling in the water three-quarters of a mile
away, as I sit at my table. The boat has gone off to
the rescue. Half an hour later — it is all right, boys are
safely back, so also is the letter — it’s the fourth vain
effort I’ve made to get it off — such is Congo !)

‘ 1 began to tell you about the unrest among the
people, but had not got so far as the most serious item —
that of the killing of two white men at a rubber factory,
about sixty miles away. Though it took place three
weeks ago, absolutely no details have transpired, beyond
the fact that the natives sacked the store, killed the
soldiers (twenty-five), and took their guns, after they had
killed the white men. The judge passed up a week ago
to visit the scene, and was followed a few hours later by
a small military force of a score or so. But if the natives
have got hold of the ammunition as well as the guns
(and it is so reported), I expect more serious measures
will have to be taken.

‘The white men may or may not have brought it
upon themselves ; these are not the people to be
“squeezed,” I am quite sure, and if the agents have
been mad enough to resort to measures of which we have
heard in other parts, they must have been lacking in
ordinary foresight, to say the least of it !

‘ I note the report of the Belgian Commission of

night, he was wakened by an uncanny, intermittent, upward pressure,
accompanied by a hissing sound, which suggested that a big snake was
astir beneath him. He stealthily groped for the match-box, which was
missing. Not daring to rise in the dark, he lay in a cold sweat till day-
break. Then facing the peril, he discovered, with emotion which can
easily be imagined, that his dread disturber was an old duck .

540

To Yalemba at Last

Inquiry was promised for August. Naturally, we are
all wondering what sort of impression it will make. If
all the depositions are published, it will create an
immense sensation — that is, if folk take the trouble to
read it. A few who are specially interested will do so,
without doubt ; but what does the bulk of the people
care for Congo ?

4 My latest news of Carrie was that she had arrived
in England ; but I’ve no direct news since June, when
she wrote of her intention to get back to the old country
during the coming month. Mr. Lawson Forfeitt met her
at Oxford, at the dedication service of the “ Endeavour ; ”
he tells me she was much better.’

At the end of August Mr. Baynes wrote the following
letter, which Grenfell would receive upon his return to
Bolobo, and which would give him no little joy: ‘ My dear
brother, how I wish I had time to write you a long letter !
There are fifty subjects I should be glad to discuss with
you ; and to have a shake of your hand, and one of your
old grips would do me an incalculable amount of good.

‘You will have heard before this of the interview that
our brother Lawson Forfeitt had with the authorities in
Brussels, and of the sanction he obtained for going on
with our work, at any rate, at the one new station of
Yalemba. Under these circumstances I feel it is clearly
our duty to establish our work openly on that spot ; and
it is with regard to this that I wish to write you officially.’

After suggestions for the permanent occupation of
Yalemba the letter continues —

‘ I am thankful to report to you that your daughters
are spending the vacation at Brighton in the home of
Miss Hare, a sister of the Lady Principal of the Seven-
oaks Girls Mission School. Carrie is certainly better,
and I have a very strong hope that she may still be able

A Friend’s Appreciation 541

to devote herself to mission work on the Congo. I was
thankful to find her so bright, and to hear from her that
her stay at Brighton is not only doing her good, but her
sisters also. I need not tell you what a rare pleasure
it has been to me to render her any trifling help within
my power. My reverence and affection for you would
make any assistance to her a great delight.

‘ We here in England are all waiting for the publica-
tion of the report of the Congo Commissioners. When
it will come out, what will be its nature, and what its
conclusions, are questions of infinite importance, and
will lead, I am quite sure, to very definite and decided
action on the part of our Committee. I long for the
dawn of a complete change of policy. I am sure there
is a grand future in store for the Congo State, if a
righteous, humane and far-seeing Government policy
can be initiated. It will come some day, perhaps not
in my time ; but it is a great country of almost infinite
possibilities, and under righteous Government it will
have a future second to none.

‘You have devoted your noble life to the truest
interest of this great continent, and you will have the
lasting satisfaction of having endured untold hardships,
cruel and most unjust misrepresentations ; but through it
all you have maintained a character that will stand the
most minute investigation, and you have made a noble
self-sacrifice which will find its highest satisfaction in
the Hereafter, with the “Well done, good and faithful
servant.” ’

To the Rev. Lawson Forfeitt.

S.S. ‘ Peace,’ near Lukolela, October 27.

‘ I met the Governor-General at Monsembe, and had
a very disagreeable time with him ; he said I had behaved
worse than any of the other Protestant missionaries, and

542

To Yalemba at Last

was very angry. I’m exceedingly sorry things have
turned out as they have, for the Mission’s sake rather
than my own. The unofficial report of what I said
before the Commission is largely responsible for it, for
the words I used, as I tried to point out to the Governor,
are not nearly so offensive, and that in fact I did not
intend them to be in any way offensive. However, I
can’t go back on what I said, and what I signed to in
my declaration. My words were, “ I had been proud to
wear the decorations his Majesty had conferred upon me,
but that now I was no longer proud so to do.” I spoke
strongly, no doubt, but I felt strongly. I was asked by
the Commissioners to speak freely, and as I was before
a Royal Commission I felt myself free to do so ; but, if
I had realized the possibility of being mis-reported I
certainly should have said nothing about decorations
at all.’

To the Rev. William Forfeitt.

Bolobo, November 26.

‘ You will have heard of my interview with the
Governor-General. I felt very bad about it at first, but
it has worn off, and I’ve become indifferent to a degree
as to his attitude — though I expect I shall have to pay
for it. I see, by a decree just recently published, that no
new buildings may be erected, nor alterations made to
existing ones, without first having obtained permission.
This places new possibilities for hindering us in the
hands of the State, though I am hoping it is mainly
intended for the lower river.’

To the Rev. Lawson Forfeitt.

Bolobo, December 20.

‘ I have received the report.1 It can hardly satisfy
those who are dissatisfied, even though their dissatisfaction
1 Report of King Leopold’s Commission of Inquiry.

Very Cleverly Done 543

is of the mildest type. Even friends and supporters
of the State regime (if they read it) will be made
uneasy. It is very cleverly done, and well calculated to
make it easy for those in power to introduce changes,
without passing sentences that are too severe upon them-
selves. The question now is as to what the new Com-
mission will do to mend matters. The fact that Jannsen,
the President, is on it is a very hopeful sign. I’m still
looking to financial pressure as the most promising and
potent factor of the future. . . ,.

‘ I am glad to tell you that I’m feeling much better
than when I wrote last, and am much more sanguine
about getting down to the Conference and Committee.
At one time I began to feel very uncertain as to the
prospect. I’m very sorry I have not been able to go to
Thysville to meet you ; it would have been not only
helpful, but would have been a great pleasure for me.
I fear my attendances at Conference gatherings will not
be so regular as they might be ; that is, if I can only get
hold of you to play truant with me, that we may make
up for the lost opportunity upon which we counted/

To the Rev. William Forfeitt.

Bolobo, December 22.

‘ We are all very sorry there is no chance of your
being at the Committee meeting ; with Lukolela, Upoto,
and Yakusu unrepresented, it will be but a “ lop-sided”
affair! I believe all the other stations will be repre-
sented. I shall be hoping to make a start for Yalemba
once more before January is out ; but as we shall be
heavily laden with the “ Bristol ” in tow, we shall be
“ making ” a very leisurely progress.

‘ Here at Bolobo we are in great straits for “ chop ”
for our people. Our lazy neighbours have been neglecting
their plantations, and the consequence is they have not

544

To Yalemba at Last

enough for themselves, much less for the State. The
kwanga tax is only being got together with great
difficulty, and in miserably small driblets.

‘ Christmas and the New Year will have passed before
you get this, but this will tell you that we are not for-
getting to wish you every good. My wife joins with me
in so doing. May 1906 mark even greater progress
than this year, which has brought you so much to be
thankful for in the matter of the work ! Your latest news
is full of encouragement for us all/

Grenfell duly attended the Conference at Kinshasa.
On the second day tidings reached him which perceptibly
loosened his moorings in this world, and intensified his
anticipations of the life beyond. The Conference opened
on Tuesday evening, January 9. On Thursday at noon
Mr. Lawson Forfeitt arrived from Matadi. Not expected
by that train, he made his way immediately to Grenfell’s
temporary home, took him out into a quiet place, and there
told him the heavy news of Bentley’s death. How much
this meant to Grenfell, it is difficult to realize. The two
men were greatly different in gifts and temperament.
During most of their missionary life they lived apart. But
they were men, with manhood tremendously accentuated.
They were utterly consecrated to their common cause.
They were sure of each other’s unfaltering fidelity ; the
bonds of their affection were those iron bonds which are
wrought into infrangibility by the shocks of long conflict
endured in gallant comradeship.

Grenfell’s grief was in no small measure shared by
the whole Conference. A memorial service was held on
the Sunday, at which he gave the following address :

‘ I am quite sure that in standing here as I do this
morning, I have the sincere sympathy of you all. You

GRENFELL’S FAITHFUL ATTENDANTS AT YALEMBA AND BASOKO.
Representing five different tribes.

Photo : Rev. J. Howell.

Baluti. Mawangu. Luvusu. Nwanambila.

( Basoko .) (Bopoto.) (Ba-Congo.) (Bangala.)

Ndala.

(Bobangi.)

B.M.S. MISSIONARIES AT THE GENERAL MISSIONARY CONFERENCE.
KINSHASA, JAN., 1906.

545

Bentley has Gone

do not need to be told that to one who had already lost
so many loving, helpful colleagues the news of the death
of Dr. Bentley is nothing less than a staggering blow.

‘ It only intensifies what has long been a mystery to
me ; for why should I have been spared, while so many
younger and better qualified, and stronger men, have
been stricken by the angel of death ? And now Bentley
has gone !

‘ In one’s early life those “ on the other side ” who
stand beckoning are comparatively few ; but one by one
loved friends and fellow-workers cross the narrow sea
and join their ranks. In my own case this has gone on
till now the majority of those who have been dear to me,
and of those with whom I have been privileged to work
in unity of heart and purpose, have passed on before,
and have made the other side to become the “home-
land ” of my poor human heart, as well as the real home-
land where my Lord and Saviour dwells !

‘To us who live the more or less solitary lives of
missionaries in heathen lands, the gaps that are made by
death mean much more than they do to those who live
in the more serried ranks of the old country. There, in
many cases, the gaps are soon filled up by new associates
or fresh interests. To us out here they persist ; and
after awhile — say after a life like mine — one drops into
a loneliness that at times brings a great sadness, but
which is not without its compensations, in that it allows
of a closer communion with God, and leads to a more
complete dependence upon the Divine.

‘There are several of us here who can count more
years than Bentley could, and this sad news which has
reached us comes as a very emphatic warning to us to
be also ready, as well as an incentive to apply ourselves
more diligently to redeeming the time that of God’s

546

To Yalemba at Last

mercy still remains to us. In my own case it constitutes
a warning I cannot help taking most seriously to heart.

4 At home, twenty-five years’ service would be counted
as nothing remarkable ; but those of us who have seen
how our brother worked know that many of his single
years should count as two, and we shall reckon ourselves
happy if we can accomplish half as much in equal time.
He was not only endowed with great natural ability, but
with an extraordinary capacity for work. He could see
so quickly the right thing to be done, and could in so
many cases do it so readily, that it was not always easy
to work in harness with him. However, a more devoted
servant to his Master, or a truer-hearted and more
affectionate fellow-worker it has never been my privilege
to know.

‘ The son of one of the best Hebrew scholars of his
day, he was clever enough to be his father’s pride, even
in matters linguistic ; and the son of a large-hearted
woman, whose motherly heart I rejoice to know found a
corner for my poor self, he inherited an affectionate nature,
which was the solace of both his parents, and which
bound the hearts of his fellow-workers to his own with
cords that will never be broken while memory lasts.

‘Yesterday I received a letter from him, written less
than four weeks ago : a letter full of enthusiastic plans
for the future, full of the optimism which was so markedly
the characteristic of the man, and which had helped him
blessedly in many a tight place. I read it, filled with the
thought that my friend and brother had already gone
hence, and that the projects, so far as he was concerned,
had all been ruthlessly cut short by the strong hand of
Death, and my heart was heavier and more sad than I
can say.

‘Was I sad on his account ? Not for a moment ! I

547

Broken Hopes

was sorry for his poor wife, sorry for his dear children,
sorry for our poor selves, who have lost so good, so brave
a comrade in arms. I make bold to say that if only our
individual selves were concerned, there are not a few of
us who would count it a blessed thing to be standing at
his side before the face of the Master.

(il A good soldier of Jesus Christ,” he has departed to
be with his Lord, which is “ very far better.”

‘ He has “ fought the good fight,” he has “ finished
his course,” he has “ kept the faith ” and made good his
claims to the crown of righteousness which the Lord hath
laid up for those who love His appearing.’

During the Conference a strong resolution was
passed, denouncing the mis-rule of the State, and
on this subject Grenfell made a pronouncement which
appears in the published report. He said : ‘Dr. Leslie
[American Baptist Missionary Union] met with opposi-
tion from the natives, and overcame all difficulties.
I have met it from the State, that “ great philanthropic
agency of Central Africa,” and have been effectually
barred. When I first came to Congo there was no civilized
power ; the traders were a law unto themselves ; and I
had seen the evils of this at the Cameroons. There was
then not a single missionary of the Cross in the land. I
hailed the advent of a European power. I rejoiced in
the prospect of better times. I saw the fall of the Arabs ;
I saw the door closed against strong drink, and when his
Majesty bestowed his decorations upon me I was proud
to wear them. But when the change of rigime came,
from philanthropy to self-seeking of the basest and most
cruel kind, I was no longer proud of the decorations.

‘We are serving a great Master. We are on the
winning side. Victory is not uncertain. Truth is

548 To Yalemba at Last

strong, and must prevail. We are checked, but not
disheartened.*

The meetings of the Conference were followed by
those of the Local Committee of the Baptist Missionary
Society, at the close of which Grenfell returned to Bolobo,
to prepare for yet another voyage up river. And on this
voyage, as Luvusu wrote, who accompanied him, 4 he
went up to die.*

To the Rev. Lawson Forfeitt.

Bolobo, February 12, 1906.

‘ I am glad to get the news about the lease, and of
its being under way. The main stipulations I quite
accept, and I am hoping the minor ones that I gather
are to be included, will be such as we shall deem reason-
able. One is sorry to have “doubts” about such matters
and to be anxious about seeing it all “ in black and
white,” but I must confess I shall look eagerly for your
copy of all the conditions.

‘ Thanks for the news of the reception of your note
re Bentley’s death by the Governor.

* I have not yet traced the origin of the five shillings
charged in 1899 — have commenced making a thorough
overhaul of my papers, and am keeping my eye on this,
as well as the other and more important points I am
hunting up.’

To Miss Hawkes.

S.S. 4 Peace,5 Upper Congo, March 15.

‘After my long silence I did not at all deserve to
have such an early reply to my last letter. It reached
us just as we were leaving Bolobo, and we were very
glad to hear from your good self (as we always are), and
I was especially glad to find you were not going to pay
me back in “ my own coin.”

4 The “ we ** who left Bolobo a week ago consisted of

The Poop Old ‘Peace’ 549

Patience, Mr. Clark, and myself. Patience left us on the
morning of the fourth day, or rather we left her, for she
was going to stay a few days at our Bumbende out-station,
and then visit the three other outposts lying between
that place and Bolobo, on her way back in the boat,
which we towed up for that purpose. These three
outposts are in charge of three of our old steamer boys,
and we consequently feel especially interested, and like
to keep in touch with them. Two other posts are in
charge of our old boys ; but Patience won’t reach them
this time. Last year I visited them all, but I shall
hardly do it this. They all come in to Bolobo every two
or three months, so they are in no way cut off. Besides,
Mr. Scrivener makes a point of seeing them from time
to time on his itinerating journey.

‘ When we started it looked as though the poor old
“ Peace ” would not be able to make headway against
the stream, for Bolobo is just at a point where the Congo
narrows itself into a sort of bottle-neck, where the current
is very strong. Three or four miles above our station
the river is six or seven miles wide, and immediately
below it is equally wide, while at the “ bottle-neck ” it is
less than two. Not only had we the strong current to
ace, but we had an exceptionally heavy load, in the
shape of three boats and three canoes to tow alongside.
There was the “ Bristol,” with doors and windows, locks,
bolts and bars, nails and screws, and all the odds and
ends required for building the new station, to say
nothing of the brass wire and bales of cotton goods,
to buy food and pay wages of workpeople ; altogether
about seven tons. Then we had the station boat in
which Patience was to return, with its load of tent and
camping gear, and its paddles and paddlers ; the other
boat was filled with firewood, for the “ Peace ” is too full

550 To Yalemba at Last

to allow of more than a few hours’ wood being put
on board.

‘ Happily, we are not dragging so heavily now, for
the station boat is on its way back, and only one of the
three canoes remains with us. This we keep with us all
the way, and each night, as soon as we reach camp and
“ tie up,” we start it off with three or four of the crew to
catch fish for those on board the steamer. If we did not
help ourselves in this way, we should have to fare very
hardly at times, for fresh food is sometimes not to be
bought for a week together.

‘Yesterday I said “good-bye” to Mr. Clark at
Lukolela ; he went ashore there, and will stay till the
“ Goodwill ” comes down and furnishes him with an
opportunity for getting back to Bolobo. Mr. Howell is
on the “ Goodwill ” this journey, and is hurrying back,
so as to help with work on the “ Endeavour.” A captain
of one of the steamers that has just come up from the
Pool told me a couple of days ago that he saw the hull
of the “ Endeavour ” on the beach at Kinshasa, apparently
almost ready for launching, and the boilers were in
readiness for being put on board. The “ Endeavour ”
will be launched as soon as the carcase is riveted up, and
all the engines, cabins, and upper structure put on board
and finished when she is afloat. At this rate she may
perhaps be ready earlier than was expected. When I
was at the Pool in January, the idea was that she might
be ready for the October journey to Yalemba and
Yakusu. I am very much interested in the progress of
the new steamer, for if she realizes our expectations I
shall be relieved of all responsibility for the transport of
cargo for our “forward” work, as she will deliver all
I shall need at Yalemba. This will mean more in the
way of help for my poor self than for any other member

55i

A River Tragedy

of the Mission, and you can understand how interested
I am in her success. Our steamers, so far, have been
“ screw-boats 55 ; the “ Endeavour ” is a “ stern-wheeler,”
a new departure for us, and with more or less of the
unknown about her.

‘ So far, I must confess I have been prejudiced against
stern-wheelers ; but I shall only be too delighted if our
new boat is a brilliant success, and dissipates all my
prejudices. Stern-wheelers are very apt to be top-
heavy, especially the smaller ones ; but I am hoping
the “Endeavour” will be altogether beyond the class
of risky ones.

‘ On my way up river this time I got the details of
the capsizing of the steamer “ Roi des Beiges ” which was
lost on the Kasai River a few weeks ago. It seems that
as she was turning round a sharp corner, the current
acting in one direction and the rudders in another, she
just turned over, without giving any notice at all. An
Italian doctor, whom I knew very well, and another
official, were in the cabin at the time, and the pressure
of water against the door prevented them from making
any attempt to escape by swimming. The captain and
engineer and two others found themselves in the water,
but were able to scramble to the bottom of the boat,
which was now out of the water, and on this they spent
the whole of the night — it was just before sunset the
disaster occurred.

‘The following morning they found the steamer,
upside down as she was, was drifting close enough to
an island to induce them to swim for it ; but one of the
four succumbed. It was indeed in a pitiable plight that
the three swimmers landed ; they had scarcely anything
in the way of clothes to protect them from sun and flies,
and absolutely nothing to stay the pangs of hunger.

552

To Yalemba at Last

‘ After a few hours, one of the three, a good swimmer,
made up his mind to try ,to get to the mainland, and
then to make his way to one of the State posts, some few
miles below ; but he had hardly got more than thirty
yards when with a great shout he threw up his hands
and disappeared — taken by a crocodile !

‘ The remaining two endured all the miseries of their
position for two more days and two more nights before
they were taken off by a passing boat. If they recover
from the shock and from the strain to which they have
been subjected they may count themselves fortunate.
Experienced traveller as I am, I think three such nights
would be my death. (I know the place very well ; it is
only a hundred miles or so from Bolobo.) However, the
“ Roi des Beiges ” is a small steamer by the side of the
“ Endeavour,” and I don’t think it is at all possible that
our larger one can behave in the same way ; still, it is
excusable for me perhaps to be anxious for her to go
through her trial trips, and prove herself the trustworthy
craft we hope she is. The designer of the “ Shamrocks ”
(Lipton’s American racing boats) passed the plans, and
no one understood such matters better than he. You
see, on the Thames, at Oxford, there was not water
enough to allow of her being properly tried.

‘ I suppose I ought to have kept my nervous notions
to myself, and I certainly did not intend to write about
them. I should not at all like the idea to get about that
I am anxious. I wrote to the Committee before the
builders began upon her ; and this was the reason they
called in the famous designer, and decided to spend an
extra ^1000 on making her wider and more steady, so I
really ought not to be in any way afraid ; but, all the
same, I want to see her well through the testing she will
have when she runs her trial trips on the Congo.

The ‘Endeavour’ Arrives 553

‘ The “ Endeavour ” reached the Pool while I was
down there in January ; the loads filled eight trucks, and
were delivered at our siding, about a hundred yards from
the beach and about sixty feet above the water-line.
They will almost have slipped down into position of
themselves, when once our people had put them on the
rough tram-line they laid down, to connect the railway
siding with the work -sheds on the beach. How different
from our labour with the “ Peace ” and with the “ Good-
will ” ! when everything had to be carried on men’s heads
up hill and down dale for more than two hundred miles
through the cataract region! You will easily under-
stand that it was no small satisfaction for me to see the
“ Endeavour” arrive, after having waited so long. From
those portions that were open to view, I judge that both
material and workmanship are of the best, and if the
design is only as good, the “ Endeavour ” will be a great
success.

‘ I happened to be down at the Pool, to meet the
other members of our Committee for our annual meet-
ing. As Chairman I had to make an effort to be there,
though I could ill spare the time. The General Con-
ference of Congo Missionaries was timed for a few days
earlier ; so altogether we made up quite a gathering,
fifty-three all told. . . .

‘ “ Our old friend Dingulu ” is the only man left of
those who settled the question as to whether or not we
should be allowed to have a piece of land, at Bolobo ;
and but for him it would have been refused. As it was,
we only got a small plot just a little more than was
necessary, for our tent. Bit by bit, however, we have
been able to get more, till now we have a piece three
hundred yards long by two hundred yards wide ; none
too much, when one considers our dwelling-houses,

554

To Yalemba at Last

school, hospital, workshops, printing office, boys’ houses,
and so on. It is not too much, that is, if we are to have
breathing-space between our buildings, and here in the
tropics we want lots of breathing-space. . . .

‘You will have observed, perhaps, the statement in
the Herald about Mr. Oldrieve taking a bioscope out
to the Congo, so as to secure a series of “ living pictures ”
for exhibition at home. This instrument has been passed
on to me for the Upper Congo pictures, and is then to be
sent to China and India. I fear that really interesting
pictures which could be shown at a missionary meeting at
home are not very plentiful. I’ve taken a few at Bolobo,
and hope they will turn out all right.

‘ Since writing the foregoing I have been into Lake
Mantumba, to visit the American Baptist Mission there ;
and there I heard of the death of Mr. Rankin, of the
C.B.M. Mr. Ellery, of the same Mission, died just
three months ago; both leave widows. Mr. Rankin
had only been married a fortnight. Mr. Ruskin, also
of the same Mission, is on his way home to England,
having been called thither on account of the serious
condition of his wife, who went home some months ago
with all the symptoms of “sleeping sickness.” Mrs.
Morgan, you may remember, after suffering for some
time, apparently recovered while in England some two
years ago ; but she has been ill again, and left last
month in the “Leopoldville,” to be wrecked on the
island of St. Thomas, if the report that has just reached
us is true. The Camerons (Baptist Missionary Society)
as well as Morgans were present at the Conference, and
like them got the doctor’s orders to go home. We are
very much afraid Mrs. Weeks may also be ordered
home. Mrs. Cameron was very well ; it is Mr. Cameron
whose health failed. Sutton Smith, at Yakusu, has been

Grave Reflections

555

suffering very severely from fever, and though he soon
pulls himself together after a spell of high temperature
(he went up to 105*8 just before last news left), we can’t
let him go on indefinitely facing the risk involved, unless
the attacks become fewer and less severe.

‘You refer to Bentley’s death. The news reached
me when I was down at the Pool, and it was indeed a
shock. Bentley’s death and Mr. Baynes’ leaving the
Mission House weigh me down with a loneliness that
makes me very, very sad at heart. Without my best
friend and nearest colleague on the field, and without
the Secretary at home with whom I have had such long
and intimate correspondence, things will be very different
for me in the days that come. I find there are only
some four or five Baptist Missionary Society missionaries
in active service whose appointments date earlier than
mine — a fact that naturally makes one think very
seriously.

‘ I don’t grieve for Bentley ; his was a blessedly full
life, and he has well earned his rest and his crown. I’m
sorry for his wife and children. They, poor things, will
feel the blow far more keenly than his nearest friends.
His last letter to me was written just a week before he
died, though it did not arrive till some days after the
telegram announcing his death. I read it, therefore,
almost as a message from the dead. He was as full of
hopes and plans as ever, and evidently had no thought
of being so near the end of his programme. I learn
there was no idea of his being seriously ill till some
hours before his death.

‘ I have just had a talk with an American traveller
who came across from the East Coast through Uganda,
and who spent Christmas at Yakusu. He tells me he
has seen absolutely nothing in the way of cruel treatment

556 To Yalemba at Last

of the natives. However, like myself, he feels sure that
in certain places the agents engaged in collecting rubber
have been guilty of the grossest outrages. I only wish
we could believe they had come to an end. From what
one hears, it is to be presumed that the same regime is
still being enforced, though in parts of the country less
under observation.

* We have been buoyed up with the hope that Belgium
herself would take steps to put the matter right ; but so
far nothing appears to have come of all the pressure that
has been exercised upon the State — except this, perhaps,
to confirm the decision of those in power to prevent the
settlement of Protestant missionaries at points farther in
the interior. However, we must not, because it threatens
to upset our plans for the future, fail in testifying against
the wrongs committed upon the people ; better renounce
them altogether than neglect so palpable a duty.

‘ If we cannot occupy new places at the front, we
must make the most of those we occupy already. In the
midst of our troubles we have much to be thankful for,
in that God’s face shines upon us as it does. The last
Sunday I was at Bolobo we had a baptismal service, and
added three to the number of our Church members ; and
I hear that the number of out-schools round Bolobo has
increased to forty- three, and the Yakusu schools to over
a hundred. We have, indeed, cause to thank God and
to take courage ! ’

To Mr. Hawkes.

S.S. ‘ Peace,’ near Monsembe, March 22.

‘Being once more out of the rush of Bolobo and the
Pool, I am trying to overtake some of my arrears in the
matter of letter-writing. My boys know the run so well
that I can leave things very largely to their care, though
naturally I have to keep my eye on them. I’m down in

LAST PHOTOGRAPH OF GRENFELL, at Bopoto. S.S. ‘ Peace ’ at anchor.
Photo ; Rev. Win. Forfeitt.

GRENFELL ITINERATING AMONG VILLAGE SCHOOLS, UPPER CONGO.

Two Quiet Congo Men 557

the cabin, which, as you remember, perhaps, has windows
all round, commanding a full view of the river, and so
have only to lift my head from time to time to see how
we are getting on. I’ve one boy at the lead in the bow,
and he “ looks out” for snags, as well as shouts the
soundings. Then there is the “ man at the wheel ” (up
till a couple of years ago a cannibal from some fifty
miles beyond Yalemba), who naturally looks out as well
as steers. Besides these there is always an “ officer ” on
deck, whose post is close to the wheel and the signals
for the engine-room. So you see I have so systematized
things as to ease myself of a good deal of the pressure
of the earlier days.

‘ I may say that our wheelman is brother of one of
the engineers who came to us nearly twenty years ago
as quite a little boy, having been rescued from the Arabs,
and placed in our care by Sir Francis de Winton. It is
only since I have been out this time that our engineer
found his people, and got his brother to join him. These
two are among the quietest Congo folk I know ; in fact,
I may say they are very much quieter than any others
I know, and one scarcely hears their voices from week’s
end to week’s end — ordinarily our people are all too
voluble, much too voluble. The elder is a very con-
sistent member of our Bolobo Church ; but I’ve never
known him take part in any service beyond singing.
Most of our members, women as well as men, have no
hesitation in getting up and speaking, and some of them
do it wonderfully well, considering how little they know.
Did you find your West Indians so generally ready to
“testify”? To talk in public seems to corne as natural
to our people as swimming does to ducks. (It has its
compensations!) . . .

‘Very naturally, the opposition of the State to any

558 To Yalemba at Last

extension of Protestant mission work bulked very con-
siderably in our deliberations at the Conference. I must
confess I see no immediate prospect of a change for the
better.

* Yesterday, upon calling at the mouth of the Lulongo
(at the C.B.M. station), I learned that while travelling in
the A.B.I.R. concession two of the Balolo missionaries
received a letter from one of the rubber agents, in charge
of a post some three hours distant, asking by whose
permission they were travelling in that district, and
practically ordering them off. This letter, and certain
interesting and important correspondence, is now on its
way to England by a returning missionary, and I imagine
should result in our understanding more clearly than we
do the value of the treaty rights, which, so far, have
availed us little.

‘ Some of our younger men are in favour of going to
a place, and simply sitting down and waiting to see how
far the Government would go in the way of forcing them
off. By a recent enactment of the Governor, one is
prohibited from staying more than a fortnight in any
place where he has no title to the land, or where he is not
the guest of some one who has a title.’

To the Rev. C. E. Wilson, B.A., Secretary Baptist
Missionary Society.

S.S. ‘Peace,’ Upoto, April 7.

‘The mails that left England on February 21 have
followed me up river, and overtook me at this place
yesterday. They brought me a letter from Mr. Baynes,
indicating that in future I was to address yourself as the
Secretary of our Society. It is no light matter to me
after a long and intimate correspondence with Mr.
Baynes, to find that it has reached its limit, and that
it has to be counted among the things of the past. I

Schemes for Advance 559

cannot expect that my years will allow my corre-
spondence with yourself to cover anything like the same
period of time ; but I shall count myself a happy
man if you can afford me anything like the same
consideration I enjoyed at his hands so long as it
lasts.

‘ As Secretary of such an organization as the Baptist
Missionary Society, you won’t have time for long letters ;
I shall, however, do my best to keep you regularly
informed as to progress of the work in hand.

‘ The present covers my reply to the communication
from the Committee concerning forward projects, also
a map, which I think will save me much writing and
yourself much time in trying to grasp my meaning.

‘ Praying God to give you strength, and all needed
grace and patience, and assuring you of my sincerest
sympathy in the difficulties of the position you have been
called to fill, I remain,’ etc.

To the Rev. Lawson Forfeitt.

S.S. i Peace,’ near Bumba, April 10.

‘ By this last mail I have received copies of the
proposals made by Mr. Fullerton and Mr. Stapleton
anent forward work, and a request for my views con-
cerning them. Mr. Fullerton seems to think there would
be less difficulty about getting permission to work a
post in State territory near the British frontier, if we
approached it from the east ; but I fear he has not much
ground to go upon. Stapleton’s proposal is to work
southwards from Yakusu ; but this for the present is
as strictly barred as the Aruwimi, I fear. I say we must
enter in at the first open door, and push forward in
both directions as opportunity may serve. Mr. Fullerton’s
idea is to establish in the Pygmy forest, but the Church

560 To Yalemba at Last

Missionary Society very definitely claimed this as their
own sphere, a few months ago. I’m reminding him, and
the Committee also, of this.’

Shortly after writing the foregoing letter Grenfell
arrived at Yalemba.

CHAPTER XXIII

‘THE DEATH OF “TATA”
FINISHED’

Grenfell goes to Yakusu— Returns to Yalemba— An Insidious Fever
—Progress at Yalemba— A Debt ‘ Palaver ’—Grenfell’s House
Fired— His Last Illness— His Last Voyage— Doctor’s Devotion
— Mr. Millman’s Journey — ‘Peace’ sent to meet Mr. Millman
and Consul— Mr. Kempton’s Arrival— Hope Abandoned— Last
Scenes— The Dearest Tribute.

RENFELL’S voyage from Bolobo to Yalemba

VJT occupied six weeks. ‘ Time enough/ he remarks
in a letter to one of his friends, ‘ for you to have gone
across the Atlantic, spent a month in America, and got
back again.’ But the poor ‘ Peace ’ was heavily laden,
and her master was happy in the thought that the
coming of the ‘ Endeavour ’ would release her from such
‘tramp’ service. Upon arrival he met Mr. Sutton
Smith, who had just completed a tour of inspection of
the out-schools extending along the hundred miles of
river-bank between Yakusu and Yalemba.

When the ‘Peace’ had discharged her cargo of
supplies and material for the new station, Grenfell took
Mr. Smith aboard, and steamed with him to Yakusu,
where he purposed to remain for some little time. The
magnitude of the work there delighted his soul, but
dislocated his plans.

At the Kinshasa Conference in January it was
suggested that a man should be spared from Yakusu

562 ‘Death of “Tata” Finished’

for Yalemba. Grenfell wrote, in March, requesting a
volunteer. Mr. Millman replied that while any one of
the staff would go to Yalemba if called, their present
work was so absorbing, and so greatly blessed of God,
that a volunteer could not be expected.

Grenfell went up to give the ‘ call/ On the spot his
heart failed him. He confessed that he dared not take
one of them away, ‘ Though,’ he said, ‘ I believe I could
have any one of you, if I cared to press the matter/
Meanwhile he resolved to wait until a new missionary
from England could join the staff at Yakusu.

It was finally arranged that when the ‘ Endeavour ’
brought Mr. and Mrs. Wilford to Yakusu, some two
months later, Mr. Kempton should go down to Yalemba
and take charge, thus permitting Grenfell to attend the
Committee meetings at Stanley Pool in September.

His lonely return was hastened by news of trouble
which called for his presence ; and on the morning of
Friday, April 28, he said ‘good-bye’ to his friends, and
started in the ‘ Peace ’ for the voyage of a hundred miles.
He complained of a troubled night, and a morning head-
ache, which it was hoped the river-breeze would blow
away. * I lie down with fever,’ is the significant entry
in his diary for that day.

For three days only of the remaining nine weeks
of his life did that insidious fever relax its grip.

‘ Insidious,’ because for long time it was low fever only,
which the patient declined to take seriously. Usually
temperature rose no more than one or two degrees.
One day, when it was 103°, he resolved that if it
reached 104°, he would go down river. But it dropped
again, and he held on.

At Yalemba he went to bed. But even on his back,
with the fever burning, he could not let his work alone.

YALEMBA SCHOOL-CHAPEL.
Photo ; Rev.J. Howell.

YALEMBA : HOUSE WHERE GRENFELL LIVED PRIOR TO HIS DEATH.
Photo : Rev. J Howell.

Complicated Illness 563

The new station must be made ready for the missionaries
when they came. Baluti and Disasi had done splendidly
during the long months in which they held the fort. A
big riverside clearance had been made in the forest,
where trees grow to a height of one hundred and fifty
feet. In addition to the teachers1 wattle and daub
houses of the first days, a school house had been
finished, and a carpenters1 workshed, sixty feet by
twenty, erected. The two houses for missionaries,
materials for which had been brought from Europe,
had yet to be put up, and the workpeople were kept
busy.

From his bed Grenfell gave instructions. When he
could creep out, with assistance, he did. His boys were
distressed, and, made bold by love, forbade him ; but
he would not be forbidden. They desired to write to
Yakusu for help, and he ‘scolded them gently.’ Once
they almost succeeded in persuading him to drop down
to Upoto, where they knew he would have a restful,
happy time and be well cared for by his friends Mr. and
Mrs. William Forfeitt : almost, but not quite !

Early In May the fever was complicated by acute
rheumatism and inflammation of the throat. The latter
proved so great a trouble that he was constrained to
make a single-day journey to Basoko, to consult Dr.
Grossule, who said that he would shake off the low
fever, and prescribed so successfully for his throat that
the painful ulcers quickly disappeared.

During these days in which the cares of building
operations weighed upon him, he was also burdened by
native concerns. The people of Yalemba were, as he
often said, * a rowdy lot.’ Physically they were magni-
ficent ; their mental alertness elicited his admiration ; he
believed they would make grand Christians, when the

564 ‘Death of “Tata” Finished’

Spirit of God touched their hearts ; and for this
consummation he devoutly yearned. For the time being,
however, they were much given to palavers, and were
prone to point their arguments with knives and spears.

It was the trouble resulting from ‘ a miserable debt
palaver’ which necessitated his premature return from
Yakusu. Edingo, one of the mission boys, unmindful
of his master’s counsels, allowed himself to be mixed up
in this palaver, took a side in the ensuing ‘ scrimmage,’
and was seriously hurt. When Mr. Sutton Smith
reached Yalemba, he found Edingo suffering, but
concluded that he was only badly bruised, and that with
good nursing he would recover. When Grenfell came
he formed the same opinion. But a few days after the
missionaries had left Yalemba for Yakusu, Edingo died.

Baluti immediately wrote requesting Grenfell to
return, placed the body of Edingo in a canoe, paddled
down to Basoko, and laid the matter before the judge.
The doctor was ordered to make a post-mortem
examination, which revealed broken ribs and serious
internal injuries sufficient to cause death. A trial
ensued, and two men were convicted, one being
sentenced to two years’ penal servitude, the other to a
fortnight’s imprisonment.

The palaver dragged on, and Grenfell, who could not,
or would not, pronounce upon the rights of the case
maintained that it was a purely native affair, and incited
the chiefs themselves to make a peaceful settlement.
Ultimately he found that the matter in dispute was no
more than ‘ twenty shillings worth of brass wire,’ and to
compose the strife he undertook to pay the debt himself.

Meanwhile an incident occurred which might have
issued tragically. At 3.30 on the morning of May 16
Grenfell, who was ‘half asleep and half awake,’ was

Grenfell’s House Fired 565

roused by a shout of ‘ Fire ! ’ and observed a tongue of
flame bickering in the far corner of the roof under which
he lay. He was too ill to leave his bed in response to
the call of the boys, who were amazed by his absolute
calmness. The fire was soon extinguished, and no great
harm was done. Obviously the mischief was the work
of an incendiary. A * fire-stick 1 had been thrust into
the thatch from outside. Grenfell himself was of opinion
that no grave outrage was intended. He thought it was
a ruse on the part of the 4 side * which Edingo had taken
to get the other side into trouble ; his reason for this
mild view being that the alarm was so promptly given.

Baluti took a grimmer view, and bluntly asserted
that the dastardly work was done by the father of the
man who had lately suffered a fortnight’s imprisonment.
In any case Grenfell declined to lodge a complaint at
Basoko.

About this time the fever abated. But the patient’s
battle was rendered harder by the poverty of the
provisions which Yalemba yielded. There was little
food fit for an invalid. More than once a canoe laden
with kindlier fare came down from Yakusu, and
Grenfell’s gratitude will be a pleasant memory to those
who ministered thus to him in his bitter need.

On May 17, the day following the fire, he had finally
concluded that Yalemba was not a place in which a
missionary should be left alone. So he wrote to Mr.
Kempton, revoking his engagement to come to Yalemba.
This was the letter —

‘Yalemba, May 17, 1906.

‘ I’ve been down with continuous fever from the day
I left Yakusu till yesterday, when I had the first inter-
mission. It has been nothing serious, in no case going
beyond 103°. Still, my dear K., I feel compelled to

566 ‘Death of “Tata” Finished’

revoke the arrangement concerning which I was so
content when we said “ good-bye.” I simply could not
leave you at Yalemba by yourself, to face all that would
be involved. It has been bad enough for me at times,
though with the steamer standing by I have always felt
I could get away at a few minutes’ notice, if the need
should arise.

‘With yourself it would be very different, and you
would be practically a prisoner till help came. I think
too much of your dear mother, of your dear sisters, and
of their dear “ Ozzy,” to be willing any longer to further
the plan of your coming down here and holding on by
yourself. If only some new man might be coming along,
and you could be left together, that would put my mind
at rest, but, by your own good self, No ! it can’t be.

‘I’m in no trim for letter- writing, but having
commenced by a few lines to my wife, I felt I must
get this matter off my mind. After so many days’ fever,
after several days’ acute rheumatism in ankles, knees
and wrists, and after an inflammation of the mouth and
throat that made even the taking of a spoonful of water
a matter of severe pain for two or three days, you can
imagine I am feeling pretty “limp.” However, thank
God, I am full of hope as to being on the high way to
recovery, and am beginning to take food again more or
less freely. The trouble is to get just the right food.
I am still sanguine as to holding on for the “Endeavour.”

‘Commend me to Millman and to Sutton. I have
often thought of you all in the midst of your big meetings,
and have prayed God to give you gracious times of
refreshing and help all round.

‘P.S. — The Antwerp boat, due to bring us long-
expected help, is leaving to-day. God prosper her ! and
especially those who are coming to lend us a hand.’

567

Suffering and Faith

Two days later Grenfell addressed a letter to his
friend Mr. Joseph Hawkes, which brought to a close a
long, intimate, and most valued correspondence. It
contained the following passages, suggestively descrip-
tive of his physical and spiritual condition : —

‘ I am just pulling myself together after three weeks
of continued fever, and sometimes have a head on me
that is like two heads, or even three ; and that makes
me feel as though I existed on two or three different
planes, all at the same time. However, during the past
day or two, the normal is more and more asserting itself,
and it becomes less and less a matter of doubt as to just
where I am. . . .

‘ God has been very good to me through all these
three weeks on my back, and though some of the days
have been dark, and the consciousness of my many sins
and much unworthiness has been heavy upon me, yet I
have not lost the assurance that it is of His grace that I
am saved. I am less confident in trying to explain the
Trinity, the Atonement, and Justification, than I used to
be ; but this I know, better than ever, that Salvation is
of Grace, through Christ, and by faith/

At the end of May Baluti observed with joy that his
dear master was better, * walked strongly, tried to do his
work,’ and so encouraged the boys in theirs that they
4 got the iron on the roof in one day/ But the amend-
ment was temporary, and as the early days of June
passed the sick man’s sufferings increased, and he grew
feebler.

Meanwhile he proved himself as ever an indefatigable
correspondent. Between May 5 and June 11 he wrote
many letters, of which eighteen lie upon my table.
Some are short, and some are long. The longest was
addressed to Mr. Archard, of Bath, as late as June 7,

568 ‘Death of “Tata” Finished’

and would make eight pages of this book. The writer
is very grateful to Mr. Archard for kindness to his
children. He tells the story of his recent experiences
in Yalemba, and minutely discusses the plans of Mr.
Fullerton and Mr. Stapleton, to which reference has been
made above.

Mission business is his chief concern, as evidenced by
several brief, matter-of-fact, but intensely affectionate
notes to Mr. William Forfeitt at Upoto, Mr. Lawson
Forfeitt at Matadi, and Mr. Kempton at Yakusu. There
is a long letter each for the Rev. C. E. Wilson, Miss
Hawkes, Mr. Thomas Lewis, of Birmingham, and
Mrs. Rowe (Grenfell’s sister), at Sancreed. He is
sympathetically interested in all the concerns of his
correspondents, especially their trials, and his personal
note is one of steadfast cheer. Of big things he thinks
in a big way ; of little things he is not unmindful. He
hopes the English election will settle the Education
Question, concerning which he expresses opinions too
sane to be practicable : he studies with critical interest
reports of discussions in the Belgian Parliament : he has
hunted up the pot of mustard which he failed to leave
for Mr. Forfeitt at Upoto, and has had it packed for
transit.

On June 2 he writes to Miss Hawkes: ‘Soon after
the “ Endeavour ” has passed up I expect to start for
Bolobo, and later to proceed to the Pool, for the
September Committee meetings. . . .

‘ My news from Bolobo is very scanty, and from the
two last notes I have had from Patience I learn she was
not well. While I’ve been down with fever I’ve had lots
of quiet times, long wakeful hours, when my thoughts
have travelled far and fast. They have often been with
you, and I’ve wondered a good deal as to how it might

His Last Letter

569

be faring with you. God has been specially good to me
through it all, and has shown me many new things out
of His Truth, and more and more concerning His
wondrous far-reaching love/

On June 5 he concludes his letter to his sister with
the following pathetic sentences : ‘ During the time I was
down with fever and was so much on my back, I often
used to think of the old place, and wonder if I should
ever see it again. In the spirit, perhaps I may, in the
body it is hardly likely. A man at my age in Central
Africa is an old man, and these last two or three years
have told on me a great deal. However, God has been
wonderfully good to me — infinitely good, and I can wait
the unfolding of His will concerning me with all
confidence. I need not point out to you, or to your
husband either, where to go for strength to bear the
burden that has fallen to you. The good Lord comfort
you both, and strengthen you both, and give you much
grace, and an unfailing consciousness of His abiding
presence ! *

His last letter, never finished, was addressed to his
friend Mr. Lawson Forfeitt, and dated June 11. He
reports that the fever still clings to him, but that he is
better, though miserable for about half his time. ‘ In
between the spells I get up and worry round, trying to
put things into shape a bit/ Discussion of various items
of Mission business follows. And in the final sentences
the writer congratulates his friend upon having success-
fully carried through certain negotiations in the interest
of the Mission.

During the ensuing week the sufferer’s symptoms
worsened, and his attendants grew desperate. Baluti
records that on Saturday the 16th ‘the agony began
truly/ It was a long agony. On Sunday the 17th a

57° ‘Death of “Tata” Finished’

letter, misdated 19th, and given here in facsimile, was
secretly despatched to Yakusu. f

. jto. J?

^ of'

f toe. oxitf t&tp

' C

ChAS\, frl/taA/esi,

° “** ^f7i y*u'ot*e-

'Cc/'Cv^. ecHou; 6 lv^ Jth

P^, U*> '

G *LlJ~ OV&

^ to 0L0 lOxttc <L^%

* ,&Lu.9i

- fMsCb<u?/v~o

On Monday the dying hero surrendered Dreaded
haematuric symptoms appeared ; his pain was unendur-
able, and he consented to be taken down to Basoko.

CONGO STATE STATION, BASOKO, WHERE GRENFELL IS BURIED.
Photo : Rev. Wm. Forfeitt.

[. Photo : Rev. Wm. Forfeitt.
GRENFELL’S GRAVE AT BASOKO.

57i

His Last Voyage

Even then there remained a duty to be performed
before embarking. The names of the work-people must
be registered for the State. Luvusu wrote down all the
names with swift obedience. Grenfell sat up in bed and
examined the list ; and this being finished, he was laid
in the cabin of his much-loved little steamer for his last
short voyage.

On this voyage Mawango took charge of the steamer,
and Baluti remained by his master’s side. As they
neared Basoko darkness fell, and with his natural and
perhaps undue concern for others, the patient said :
‘ When we reach Basoko, do not call the doctor by night.’
Happily, Baluti was spared the pain of obeying or
disobeying this difficult command, for the doctor, who
had heard of the trouble, was on the beach. He
immediately made himself acquainted with the facts of
the case, and commenced a gallant but unavailing fight
with death. His devotion could not have been surpassed.
He did all that skill could suggest or kindness execute.
He visited his patient three or four times a day, and
often remained long. On the day following arrival
Grenfell was taken ashore from the cramped cabin of the
‘ Peace,’ and comfortably housed. Two days later his
indomitable energy asserted itself, and he made arrange-
ments for the meeting of Mr. Millman. Here a brief
digression is called for.

Towards the end of May the British Consul, being at
Yakusu, desired Mr. Millman to make a journey with
him to the Nile ; but the missionary could not be spared
from his station so long a time as this journey would
require. It was afterwards arranged that they should
travel a hundred miles north of Yakusu, strike the
Aruwimi at Yambuya, drop down the river to Basoko,
and return to Yakusu, touching at Yalemba.

5 72 ‘Death of “Tata” Finished’

On his second day out Mr. Millman despatched a
letter across country to Yalemba, describing his plans,
and requesting that Grenfell would send the ‘ Peace ’ to
Yambuya by June 14, to pick up the travellers, and give
them a welcome lift on their homeward way. A second
letter from Mr. Millman stated that he could not reach
Yambuya by the date named, and that he and the
Consul would attempt to travel by canoe to Basoko.

Upon receipt of the first letter Grenfell at once
arranged with his boys to despatch the ‘ Peace * as
requested, and on June 13 ordered them to make pre-
paration for the journey. But the stress of his increasing
illness and the postponement of date thrust the matter
into the background. Yet on June 22 the ‘Peace’ met
Mr. Millman and the Consul at Yambuya, and Baluti
shall tell how it came to pass.

‘ The faithful, diligent one in the house did not wish
to fail in the promise he had given to Mr. Millman, and
he asked Mawango, “ What day is this ? ■ Mawango
replied, “The fourth day — June 21.” Then we took a
chair, and placed him in it, and he said, “ Mawango, I want
you to go with the “ Peace ” to Yambuya, to receive Mr.
Millman and the Consul. You will return on Saturday.”
Afterwards he said, “ If I die here in Basoko, you shall
take my body and bury it at Yalemba.” When we
heard this, our hearts broke, and we said, “ You, knowing
you are dying ; how can you send the ‘ Peace * to
Yambuya ? ” He said, “ It is well, go ; we shall meet
again.” Then he sent me to the doctor, to find a man
who knew the way to Yambuya, to accompany Mawango.
The doctor sent two men, and the “ Peace ” left that day.
Nkoko [grandfather] lay in the death-agony. Luvusu
and I remained to guard him, worn out.’

The arrival of the ‘ Peace * at Yambuya on Friday,

573

Shadows Lengthen

June 22, was providential for Mr. Millman. His fellow-
traveller had been lying there ill for five days, and when
he had recovered sufficiently to permit removal, it was
found impossible to hire men to work canoes. But Mr.
Millman’s joy on sighting the ‘ Peace ’ was turned to
heavy grief, when a letter from the doctor was handed
to him, describing Grenfell’s extremity, and bidding him
make haste if he desired to see his friend again.

On the 2 ist, after the departure of the ‘Peace,’ the
State steamer ‘ Ville d’ Anvers ’ touched at Basoko,
bringing mails. Grenfell revived a little, looked over
some of his letters, and in the night called for the news-
papers, and read the boys an account of an earthquake,
by which they were much impressed. He also asked
them cheerily if they did not think he would recover.
A period of acute pain supervened ; but when Mr.
Millman came on Saturday the 23rd, he revived again,
and talked of his travels. On Sunday his attendants
dared to hope once more, but the amendment was
transient and illusory. Great anguish quickly came
upon him, and thereafter the sun sank and the shadows
lengthened.

On the following Tuesday night Mr. Millman left him
for a while, to take leave of the Consul, who was going
away on the morrow. Returning to the house, he found
the boys outside weeping bitterly. Inquiring the cause,
he learned that Nkoko had asked them, ‘ Do you think
I shall see Mamma [Mrs. Grenfell] again ? ’ They
answered, ‘We do not know; if God wills you may.’
Whereupon he shook his head, and they passed outside,
that they might not distress him by their unbridled
sorrow.

In the morning Mr. Kempton arrived from Yakusu,
having made a record journey, thanks to the devotion of

574 ‘Death of “Tata” Finished’

men who, wearied at the start, had paddled night and
day, that they might carry help to Nkoko. Grenfell just
recognized his friend, and called him by his name. That
was all. Afterwards, for the most part, he lay in semi-
consciousness, murmuring words of prayer.

The valley of the shadow of death is a lonely place.
In one dark hour Grenfell found it so. His nearest and
dearest according to the flesh were far away, and in his
loneliness he looked with yearning eyes into the faces of
young men who were his sons in the faith, who would
have died to save him, and cried, in words which the
Church of Christ in Africa will surely treasure for all
time : ‘ Help me, my children, I am dying ! pray

for me!’ Later he was clearly conscious of Divine
companionship and succour, for he said softly, ‘Jesus
is mine. God is mine/

His last words were words of simple courtesy. On
the morning of Saturday, June 30, as Dr. Grossule
entered the sick-room, his patient whispered something
which he failed to catch. The words were repeated, and
Baluti, who had stooped to listen, at request, said, ‘ He
greets you, doctor, and would know if you have slept/
The doctor answered pleasantly. ‘ Nkoko also smiled/

With the fading of that smile the world faded from
his eyes for ever. He outlived the last day of June, faring
on through misty regions which baffled human love could
not penetrate. But when the new month was one hour
old, mists lifted, shadows passed away. It was morning,
Sabbath morning, and the hero of many voyages dropped
anchor in ‘ the desired haven/

His sorrowing ‘ children ’ would have borne his body
to Yalemba, according to his wish; but, in the absence
of the Commissaire, Dr. Grossule could not grant the

Death and Life

575

necessaiy permit. He said, however, ‘We will bury
Mr. Grenfell at Basoko as great men are buried.’
And Baluti, who loved his master passing well, shall
tell the story of the funeral. ‘ Workmen toiled through
the darkness by lamplight, and made a good coffin.
Cloth was put round him well. The soldiers were
dressed in their uniforms, and came to the burying.
First we and the teachers sang a hymn, ‘ Shall we gather
at the river ? * [in the native version]. Then the soldiers
fired their guns, and we raised the body, and carried it
gently, gently, the soldiers blowing their trumpets as
they marched. When the body was laid to rest, they
fired their guns again. Mr. Millman read the service.
Then we sang another hymn, the State white men
looking on, and a Roman Catholic priest. Last of all
we closed the grave, replacing the earth, and so the death
of “ Tata ” [father] finished.’

Well written, O Baluti ; ‘ the death of Tata finished,’
but not the life ! As your brother in service and in
sorrow, Luvusu wrote, ‘ We know that our master
entered into joy in heaven, with his great Master
Jesus Christ our Saviour.’

And on earth your master lives. In your love and
in your ministry he lives. In the love and in the
ministry of those whom you, in turn, shall lead into
the faith, he will live. In the love and in the ministry
of men of his own blood, inspired by his example, who
will tread the paths he found, he will live. His body
lies mouldering in the grave at Basoko, ‘but his soul
goes marching on ’ ; and shall march, with the armies of
the Living God, conquering and to conquer, until the
cruel forces of evil which oppress your people shall be
broken in final conflict, and the wounds of Africa shall
bleed no more.

576 ‘Death of “Tata” Finished’

The fountain of sorrow opened at Basoko flowed
with ever-widening stream. When the news was flashed
up and down river by the mysterious telegraphy of the
natives, there was weeping from Stanley Falls to the
coast. In the Homeland thousands of kind eyes grew
dim with tears, as they read brief records of the veteran
missionary’s death. Eulogies were written and spoken
by leaders of Science and Religion. But if the spirits
of departed ones take immediate cognizance of the
things of earth, the tribute to the work and worth of
George Grenfell, dearest to his mind, will be the tender,
sorrowful, unfeigned, reverent love of those simple
people, for whose uplifting and salvation he travailed
even unto death.

INDEX

Abo towns, 64, 67
Accra, mission work at, 384
Adjutant Story, 157
Adzes, native, 443
4 Akassa,’ the, voyage in, 313
Akwa, King, 84, 86
4 Albertville,’ the, 454, etc.
Allan, a blacksmith, 163
American Evangelical Mission-
ary Alliance, 378
Ammonia fort, use of, 260
Angola, 340, 392
Anguan’s town, 64
Anklets, native, 442
Ants, 4 driver,’ 69
Anvils, native, 441
Arabs, the, 232, 238, 433
Arthington, Mr. R., letters of,

93, 96, 234, 289

Arthington station, 242
Aruwimi, the, 207, 430, etc.
Asses, value of, 85
Augouard, Pere, 1 18, 415

Babangi, the, 192, 194
Bafwaboli, attack on, 419
Bailey, Rev. H. C., letter of, 35
Bakundu, 85
Balfern, Rev. W. P., 343
Balolo missionaries, ordered off,
558

Baluti, a native Christian, 439,
567, etc.

Banalya district, 440
Banana, 100, 314
Bangala, 181, 196, J99, 226, 357,
358

Banks, Rev. C. B., 465
Banunu, the, 192, 194

Banza Manteka, 114
Baptisms, 260, 277, 336, 342,
374, 378, 414, 514
Baptist African Mission, the,
46

Baptist Times , extract from, 41
Baracho, Lieut.-Colonel, 30 7
Barge, State, wreck of, 453
Barnaby, Mr. S., on the launch
of the 4 Peace,’ 169
Barttelot, Major, 440
Basket weaving, 443
Basoko, 343

Basundi country, 112, 118

Bateke, the, 176

Batende, the, 192

Batetelas, revolt of, 372

Bathunu, 196

Bay ansi, the, 192

Baynes, Mr., resignation of, 533 :

letter of, 540
Bayneston, 114
Beef, hippo, 220
Belgian Commission for settling
the frontier with Portugal,
307, etc.

Belgians, King of the, 303, 305
Bell, King, 76, 84
Bellows, native, 441
Bentley, Rev. W. Holman, 115,
1 16, 240, 366, 5 10 ; on Gren-
fell on board the 4 Peace,’
208 ; his view of Grenfell’s
journeys, 208 ; death of, 544
Bethel station, 68
Biggs, Rev. J. E., 239, 256
Bimbia, King William of, 70
Binue, the, 216
Bioscope, a, 554

2 P

578

Index

Bird, Rev. Ben well, 18
Birmingham, i

Birmingham Young Men’s Bap-
tist Missionary Society, 19
Black River, the, 207, 219
‘ Black Year’ of 1887, 406
Blacksmiths, native, 441
Blind natives, 445
Blood-brotherhood, 197
Bloomsbury Theological Class,
the, 15

Bochini, the, 188
Bojungi, 197

Bolobo, 1 77, 192, 226, 306, 316,
3i7, 335? 350, 353) 354, 356,
359, 366, 406, 496, 500, 5H,
530, 543
Bombimba, 202
Bonamquasi, 66, 67
Bonaventura, Father, 10 1
Bongende, 520
Bopoto (Upoto), 343
Borea, the, 83
Boshende, 196
Brazza, Count de, 354
Bricklayer, a native, 377
Brick-making, 365
Bristol College, 24
Bristol Students’ Missionary
Association, 30
Brooke, Mr. G. W., 266
Brown, Rev. J. G., 252, 253, 263,
267, 269, 270, 271
Bukolela, 201, 202
Buku, 339

Buis, M., visit of, 41 1
Bululu, 446

Bungudi, a boy, 262, 278, 325,
408, 521
Busira, the, 219

Butcher, Rev. H. W., 111, 114,
154

Butcher, Miss, 262, 272
Buteke, the, 266
Bwana Sige, 233
Bwang, 83
Bwangata, 197
Bwemba, 354

Cameron, Rev. G. R. R., 279

Cameron, Mrs., 333
Cameroons Mission History,
the, 269

Cameroons, mission work at,
385, etc.

Cannibals, 219
Canoes, native, 436
Capsize, a, 539
Carpenters, native, 442
Carriers, difficulties with, 328,

329

Cauldwell, Mr. G., 13
Caulkin, Mr. A., letter of, 19
Centennial Fund, the, 324
Chapman, Rev. S., 12
Charters, Mr., 239, 240
Chinka Fort, revolt at, 454
Christian Amusements, 16
Christian World ’ testimony of,
134

Chumbiri’s, 1 76, 190
Clothing, the question of, 264
Coats, Mr., his gift of a steamer,
38

Comber, Rev. T. J., 79, 85, 114,
116, 211, 212, 216, 227, 319 ;
goes to the Congo, 99 ; re-
turns to England, 109 ; loss
of his wife, no; narrow
escape of, 1 10 ; his story of
the ‘ Peace,’ 166 ; death of,
246

Comber, Mrs. P., 301
Commission of Inquiry, Report
of, 542

Conference at Kinshasa, 492,
544

Congo, the, discovery of, 91
Congo for Christ , quoted, 96
Congo Balolo Mission, 376,
380

Coquilhat, Capt., 202, 239
Comishmen, character of, 2
Crocodiles, 447 ; eggs of, 524
Crudgington, Rev. H. E., in,
114, 161

Cruelties, State responsibility
for, 491, 511, 515, 555
Cruickshank, Rev. A. H., 212,
216

Index

579

Cuveli^r, Chevalier de, 463
Cylinder, a broken, 522

Dalla, a boy, 502
Darby, Rev. R. D., 239, 240,
263, 266, 269, 279, 317
Darling, Rev. F. C., 217
Davies, Rev. P., 238
Deane, Mr., 233, 238
Depopulation of Aruwimi dis-
trict, 448

Dhanis’s expedition, revolt of,
403

Dibamba, the, 83

Dibolo, Lake, 235

Dibongo, 83

Dido town, 83

Dikulu, Jack, 262, 277

Dingulu, a chief, 553

Dixon, Rev. H., in, 115, 339

Dodds, Rev. C. J., 403

Doke, Rev. W. H., in, 126,

134, 138

‘ Down Grade,’ the, 265
* Driver ants,’ 69
Dubois, Lieut., 239
Dumbi, a boy, 56, 87

Ebolu, a teacher, 105
Edea, 83

Edingo, a boy, 564
Education, influence of, 389
Edwin Arnold river, 142
Eettvelde, Mons., 31 1
Ellery, Mr., 554
Embomma, 102
4 Endeavour,’ the, 550, etc.
Endokobele, 83
Endokoko, 83
Endokombwang, 83
Epea, a teacher, 105
Equatorville, 198
‘Ethiopia,’ loss of, 127
Ewangi, story of, 57
Execution, mode of, 197

F atari, wedding of, 363
Fernando Po, 73
Fighting, native, 352, 538
Fire at Stanley Pool, 231

Fire, an incendiary, 565
Fishing, 55
Fly-country, a, 330
Food, scarcity of, 242
Forfeitt, Rev. Lawson, 282, 285,
293, 297, 299, 404, 509, 544
Forfeitt, Rev. William, 287, 288,
418

Forging work, 341
Franz Joseph Falls, 327
French native policy, 369
French visitor, a, 502
Fuller, Rev. J. J., story of, 88
Fullerton, Rev. W. Y., proposals
Of, 559

Funeral customs at Cameroons,
53

Ganchus, 187
Garaganje country, the, 235
German naturalist, death of, 104
Gill, Mr., 185
Glave, Mr. E. J., 180
Glennie, Rev. R. V., 348, 353
Gobela, a chief, 175
‘ Goodwill,’ the building of, 300 ;
launch of, 306 ; arrival of,
317 ; upset of, 495
Gorin, Lieut., 310
Gotch, Rev. Dr., Principal of
Bristol College, 25
Gotchaka, a chief^ 276
Gouges, native, 443
Grandy, Commander, 94
Greenhough, Rev. J. G., ministry
of, 26

Grenfell, Carrie, 540
Grenfell, E. P., 5
Grenfell, George, sen., 4, 161
Grenfell George—
birthplace, 1-4
removal to Birmingham, 1
his character, 2
birth of, 4
parentage of, 4
his pedigree, 6
stories of, 7
school life of, 9
at Sunday school, 10
his boy friends, 10

580

Index

Grenfell, George — contd .
a fight, 1 1
baptism of, 12
his consecration to mission
work, 12

his teachers, 13, 14
Sunday work, 14, 18
learns Greek, 18
becomes an apprentice, 19
edits Mission Work , 20
goes to Bristol College, 21
his college life, 27
narrow escape from drown-
ing, 35

accepted for the Came-
roons, 37

Designation Service, 39
in Liverpool, 39
reminiscences of, 41
arrival at Cameroons, 47
description of, 48-56
his work there, 48
‘ literary remains,’ 50
medical work, 52-58
his first journey, 58
goes to Abo towns, 64
Bethel Station, 68
illness, 72

goes to Fernando Po, 73
back to England, 73
marriage, 74

voyage to Cameroons, 74
death of his wife, 78
his work at Cameroons, 79
his journeys described, 81
kills a snake, 87
describes the Congo, 91,
102

accepts Congo Mission, 98
flying visit to Congo, 100
farewells, 102
his boat, 102
arrival at Banana, 106
journey to Makuta, 107
return to San Salvador,
109

second marriage, 109
his history of the Mission,
110-115

his love for the 4 Peace,’ 121

Grenfell, George— contd.
returns to England to work
on the steamer, 124
his dislike of visitors, 126
at Liverpool, 128
travels of, 128
farewell meeting, 129
his speech, 1 30-1 34
Christmas on board ship,
135

arrival at Banana, 136
loss of his baby, 137
his plans, 137
at Underhill, 138
goes to Stanley Pool, 14 1
arrival and return, 144
illness, 145
his experiences, 146
a hurried wedding, 149
stopped by armed natives,
151

Sunday in camp, 153
difficulties, 154
work at the Pool, 156
adjutant story, 157
voyage in a steel boat, 160
sorrowful return, 160
his father’s death, 161
putting the ‘Peace’ to-
gether, 162
trial trip, 164

voyage in the whale-boat,
171, etc.

at the Equator, 18 1
boy passengers, 185
human sacrifices, 193
dealings with the natives,
199, etc.

his summary of voyage, 204
his literary style, 206
his first printing, 21 1
his Christmas fare, 213
attacked by natives, 214
meets Tippoo Tib, 215
third voyage in the ‘ Peace,’
219

meeting with cannibals, 219
kills a hippo for food, 220
his fourth voyage, 227
trouble at Stanley Pool, 230

Index

581

Grenfell, George— contd.
his summary of journeys,
235

death of his son, 238
voyage up the Kwango, 239
natives driven away by a
whistle, 241
scarcity of food, 242
his return to England, 243
received by King Leopold,
245

his readiness to return to
Africa, 248

his testimony to Comber,
250

voyage in 1 Landana,’ 252
arrives at Underhill, 253
his missionary zeal, 257
on Bishop Taylor, 259
adventure with ammonia
fort, 260

Christmas thoughts, 261
at Stanley Pool, 262
pleads for reinforcements,
267

has another daughter, 269
death of his baby, 270
in a tornado, 272
declines to return to
England, 274
mosquitoes, 275
his appetite, 275
reports progress, 280
translates Ten Command-
ments, 280
in the 4 forties,’ 281
in the midst of war, 283
translates Mark, 284
voyage up river, 285
the 4 Peace ’ seized, 291, etc.
interviews the Governor-
General, 293, 295
returns to England, 297
at Sancreed, 297, 301, 307
superintends building of
the 4 Goodwill,9 300
his review of work on the
Congo, 303, etc.
interviews with the King of
the Belgians, 305, 312

Grenfell, George— contd.
made a 4 Chevalier,’ 305
his illness, 305
joins Belgian Commission,
308

goes out in the 4Akassa,’
312

in a storm, 313
lands at Matadi, 314
delayed at Underhill, 315
his great journey, 318, etc.
difficulties with carriers,
328, etc.

in the swamps, 329
in a fly-country, 330
epidemic of smallpox, 331
return journey, 331
a grand reception, 333
his disappointments, 334
his wardrobe, 337
at San Salvador, 338
presents to his children,

340

work on the 4 Goodwill,’

341

an accident on board, 344
on sandbanks, 345
engine breaks down, 345
a tornado, 346
a 4 palaver,’ 347
Christmas fare, 351
worries, 357

his geographical work, 367
awarded Founder’s Medal
of R.G.S., 368
on cruelty and taxation,
369, etc.

reports progress, 375
his new house at Bolobo,
376

a chain of stations wanted,
379

his treatise on missions,
382, etc.

on trade, 385, etc.
on punishments, 387
on education, 389
on technical training, 394
on difficulties of converts,
395

2 p 2

582 Index

Grenfell, George— contd.
his sorrows, 400
notice to quit Sargent
Station, 401

another voyage, 402, etc.
his return, 424
death of Pattie, 421
another voyage, 421
difficulty of navigation, 425
voyage up the Aruwimi
described, 430, etc.
a slave ransomed, 431
the return journey, 448
depopulation of the district,
448

serious illness, 45 1
at Matadi, 454
on the 4 Albertville,’ 454
his wide interests, 457
character of his letters, 458
his proposed letter to
colleges, 459

his views on the Press, 461
his feelings of depression,
462

at Brussels, 463
at Bournemouth, 463
a breakdown, 467
last three months in Eng-
land, 468

withdraws from the Com-
mission, 491, 51 1
arrives at Congo, 492
attends Conference at Stan-
ley Pool, 492
at Yalemba, 492
at Bolobo, 493
on Romish missions, 494
voyage up the Aruwimi, 497
service at Yalemba, 498
journey to Mawambi, 498
Christmas in Bolobo, 500
a bachelor manage, 501
on dentistry, 502
reaches Upoto (Bopoto),
503

views of the future of Africa,
503

at Yakusu, 506, 526, 561
up the Kwango, 512

Grenfell, George— contd.
on the cruelties, 515, etc.
at Bongende, 520
bitten by a tsetse fly, 521
up the Lomami, 527
back at Bolobo, 530
reports failure and success,
532

depression, 533, 536
voyage to Yalemba, 534
native unrest, 538
his courage, 538
a capsize, 539

interview with Governor-
General, 541
scarcity at Bolobo, 543
on Bentley’s death, 544, 555
his last voyage, 548
visits Lake Mantumba, 554
his return, illness, and death,
562, etc.
his funeral, 575

Grenfell, Mrs., 73 ; illness of,
76 ; death of, 78
Grenfell, Grace, 454
Grenfell, John, 4
Grossule, Dr., 574

Hailes, Miss de, 365
Hall, Rev. Robert, story of, 29
Hamisi, a boy, 228
Hammers, native, 441
Hanssens, Captain, 267
Hari Nkutu, 188
Harmonium, effect of, 276
Harrison, Rev. F. G., 252, 253,
270, 279

Hartland, Rev. J. S., 112, 114,
140

Hartland, Mrs., 314
Hartley, Rev. J. W., 161
Hastings, Mr. Wm., 12
Hawker, Rev. G., 237
Hawkes, Joseph, 11, 22
Hawkes, Miss Mary, 73
Health, the question of, 264
Heneage Street Baptist Church,
9

4 Henry Reed,’ the, 168
Hickory town, a quarrel at, 76

Index

583

Hippopotami shooting, for food,
178, 220

Houses, native, 51, 444
Howell, Rev. J., 375, 416, 451,
453, 460, 467
Hughes, Rev. E., 317
Hughes, Rev. W., 1 1 1
Human sacrifices, 193
Hunting, native, 444
Hymn-singing, native, 526, 529,
537

Ibaka, a chief, 192
Ibari Nkutu, the, 176
Ikelemba, 18 1

Industrial mission workers, 384

Inganda, 197

Ipaka, a chief, 196

Irebo, 369

Irebu, 196

Iron, native workers in, 441, 446
Iron-stone, 446
Irundo, 526, 527
Isangila, 112, 114, 116

Jack, a donkey, 105
Ja-Ja, King, 70
Je-engo charm, a, 65
Jefferd, Rev. F. A., 341
Jesuit missions, 115, 117
Joaque, a type-setter, 213
John, see Ti.

Johnston, Sir H., on Grenfell,
368

Jones, Dr., 100
Juapa, the, 207, 219

Kalaki, 84
Kallina Point, 161
Kapenda Camulemba, 327
Kasai, the, 228, 235, 241, 512
Kasongo Luamba, 328
Kasongo’s, 506

Keltie, Dr. Scott, on Grenfell,
368

Kiamvo, 318
Kibokolo, 340
Kimpoko, 187, 239
King Edward’s Grammar
School, 11

Kinshasa (Nshasha), 187, 230,
232'; conference at, 340,
492, 544

Kirkland, Rev. R. H., 343
Kiteke language, the, 263
Kokki, 64, 67
Kongo, King of, 106
Kroomen, 84
Kwa, the, 188

Kwamouth, 188, 190, 226, 228
Kwango, the, 176, 188, 240, 241,
323, 32 7, 512

Language, influence of, 389
Lazaro, Padre, 106
Le Berre, P&re, 105
Le Mouvement des Missions
Catholique , quoted, 518
Le’a’s, town, 65
‘ Leon XIII.,’ the, 414
Leopold, Lake, 238
Leopoldville, 218, 230
Leslie, Dr., 547

Letters from George Grenfell
to —

Mr. R. Arthington, 235, 418
Mr. Baynes, 117, 138, 162,
164, 171, 183, 207, 226,
232, 236, 238, 239, 243,
245, 246, 248, 250, 252,
259, 263, 269, 272, 274,
282, 287, 288, 293, 302,
306, 308, 310, 312, 316,
320, 323, 326, 327, 331,
332, 333> 338, 405, 409,
411, 412, 414, 416, 418,
436, 459, 463, 465, 492,
494, 496, 499) 503) 5o8,

509, 513, 5i7, 525) 526,
527, 531, 532

Rev. W. H. Bentley, 372
Rev. A. Billington, 237
Colleges, 459

Rev. Dr. J. S. Dennis, 382
Rev. Lawson Forfeitt, 295,
297, 30Ii 353, 360, 366,
458, 466, 49s, 507, 508,

510, 511, 512, 513, 520,
525, 53i, 54i, 542, 548,
559

584

Index

Letters from George Grenfell
to — contd.

Rev. Wm. Forfeitt, 451, 542,
543

Rev. J. J. Fuller, 260, 269,
325

Rev. Dr. Glover, 81
Mrs. Greenhough, 341, 359,
425, 486

Gertrude Grenfell, 477,
478, 481

Carrie Grenfell, 471, 474,
475, 477, 481, 483
Mrs. Hartland, 127, 135,
141, 217, 237, 244, 253,
258, 271, 282, 284, 313
Miss Hartland, 356, 361
Miss Hawkes, 210, 212, 213,
227, 256, 260, 261, 262,
265, 270, 275, 283, 318,
324, 35o, 354, 357, 403,
405, 407, 412, 450, 496,
514, 521, 548, 568
Mr. J. Hawkes, 134, 215,
230, 243, 245, 276, 280,
302, 303, 312, 322, 329,
340, 360, 363, 366, 374,
402, 404, 407, 409, 413,
421, 424, 428, 452, 456,

506, 515, 556, 567
Rev. J. Howell, 41 1, 452,

455, 461, 467, 469, 495,
512, 53°

J. S. Keltie, Esq., 368
Rev. S. O. Kempton, 565
Mr. T. Lewis, 28, 34, 37,
47, 78, 242, 277, 501,

507, 518, 529, 535
Rev. W. J. Mills, 36

Rev. J. M. Gwynne Owen,
40, 66, 73, 74

Rev. R. H. Powell, 102, 218
Sir F. de Winton, 223
Rev. Dr. Underhill, 34, 285
Rev. W. H. White, 297
Rev. C. E. Wilson, 558
Lewis, Rev. T., 339, 340
Lewis, Mrs., 338, 340
Liboko, 199, 201, 202
Liebrecht, Lieut., 192, 30 7

Lindi, the, 361
Lindi Falls, 418
Liverpool, meetings at, 127
Livtard, Lieut., 371
Loanda, 332
Lobengo, 202
Loboko, 201
Loika, the, 354
Loleka, a carpenter, 364
Lomami, the, 207, 527
Lone Island, 191
Losere, 353
Lualaba, the, 92
Lubilast, the, 215
Luchiko, the, 329
Luebo, 317

Lukolela, 179, 195, 226, 238, 239,
266, 532
Lukunga, 320
Lulanga, 199, 200
Lulongo, the, 196, 201
Lulongo-Maringa, the, 207, 219
Lulua, the, 228
Lunda Expedition, 307, etc.
Lungasi towns, 83
Lungu, love affairs of, 159
Luvu river, 139
Luvusu, 548

Mabelo, 18 1

Macmillan, Rev. D., death of,
216

Makuta, 107
Malfeyt, Major, 497
Malimba, 83
Maloney, Mr., 185
Mandoko, 65
Mangaba, 199
Mangamba, 65, 66
Mantumba, Lake, 354, 554
Mantumba, the, 181
Manyanga, 112, 114, 116
Martini, Captain, 292
Mata Mayiki, a chief, 202
Matadi, 314
Matoka, 107
Matthews, Mr., 270
Mawambi, 498, 499
Mawango, 521, 571, etc.
Mayango, a chief, 197

Index

585

Mayumba, 247
Mbala, a chief, 363
Mbongo, 197
Mbuma, a teacher, 532
Mbura, the, 207, 216
Mechow, Major von, 241
Mense, Dr., 240
Miang town, 64, 66
Millman, Rev. W., 571, etc.
Millman, Mrs., 493
Minns, Mr., death of, 212
Missionary Herald, quoted, no,
124, 183, etc.

Mission Work , extract from,
21

Mmoila, 107
Mobeka, 461
Moie, 192, 193
Monogamy, 394
Monsembe, 290, 451, 452, 534
Moolenaar, Rev. H. K., m
Mordecai Creek, 83
Morgan, Mrs., 554
Mpozo ferry, 114
Mpumba, 181
Mswata, 175, 187
Mubangi, the, 196, 207,213,216,
235, 369

Muene Puto Kasongo, a chief,
318, 320, 326
Mukimvika, 149
Mukupi, 448

Mulamba Shambola, 507
Mumbomboli, 447
Mundungu, 513
Mungundu, 201
Munsembe, 202
Mupe, 434
Mushie, 189
Musuko, 106, 1 12
Mweli, a chief, 64

Nga Nkabi’s Mushie, town,
189, 190

Ngombe, 181, 195
Ngombe Makwekwe, 142
Nguri a Nkama, 327
Nimptsch, Baron von, 227
Nkosi, a teacher, 520
Nkunju, 194

N’Kwi, 69

Nlemvo, love affairs of, 159
Nshasha (Kinshasa), 226
N’Toe, chief of Wuri, 59
Ntumba Mani, 322
Nyambi, the, 276
Nyangwe, 207

Oko Jumbo, 70
Oldrieve, Rev. F., 554
Oram, Rev. F. R., 287, 288,
337, 343

Packing difficulties, 210
Paddling, mode of, 437
Painting, native, 438
Palabala, 114
‘ Palavers,’ 347, 564
Palm wine, 68
Panga Nlele, 323, 324
Pangani, a chief, 446
Patterns, native, 442, 443
Pattie, 400, 404, 407, 421
c Peace,’ the, story of, 121, etc. ;
seizure of, 291, etc. ; con-
dition of, 509, 5 1 1, 522
Pearse, Rev. Mark Guy, on
Cornishmen, 2

Peggy, Grenfell’s daughter, 137,
142 ; operation on, 244
Pickersgill, Consul, 333
Pinnock, Rev. J., 253
Pitika, a chief, 434
Planing, native, 443
Poling, native, 437
Pollard, Elizabeth, 5
Polygamy, 394, 396
Pople, Rev. G. R., 401, 403
Popocabaca, 325, 326
Popoie, 447

Portuguese Commissioner, delay

of, 315

Press, the, influence of, 461
Prices at Cameroons, 70
Printing, first Congo, 21 1
Printing-press, a, 365
Prisu people, the, 76
Punishments, native, 387

586

Index

Qua-Qua, the, 83
Quito, the, 331
Qmri, 69

Railway progress, 315
‘ Ranger,’ a dog, 279
Rankin, Mr., 554
Rapids on the Aruwimi, 437
Reuter’s telegram re seizure of
the ‘ Peace,’ 296
Revolt of soldiers at Chinka
Fort, 454

Richards, Rev. M., 238, 263,
266, 269, 272

Roberts, Dr., report of, 467
Roger, Rev. J. L., 292, 426
4 Roi des Beiges,’ the, 415 ; cap-
size of, 551

Roman missions, character of,

393> 402, 494

Rorhkirk, Baron von, 262
Rottmann, Mr., 82
Rowe, Catherine, 4
Rowe, Michael, 4
Ruki, the, 197, 199
Ruskin, Mr., 554

4 St. John on Haiti,’ 375
Sadler, Professor M. E., letter
of, 497

Sakamimbe, 194
Saker, Rev. A., 36, 39, 45
Salambo, 427

San Salvador, 92 ; mission at,
no, 338, 392, 42i
Sancreed, 1-4
Sankuru, the, 372
Sargent Station, 335, 401
Scarcity of food, 43 1
Scholars, native, 350, 499
School treat for black children,
a, 50

Scrivener, Rev. A. E., 247, 365,

534

Scrivener, Mrs., 409
Seizure of the ‘ Peace,’ 291, etc.
Shah, Rev. Goolzar, 20
Shari Valley, 235
Shaw, a carpenter, 163
Shoreland, Mr., 239

Showers, James, 163, 263
Sierra Leone, mission work at,

383

Silvey, Rev. S., 263, 269
Silvey, Miss, 262, 272, 273
Sims, Dr., 510

Slade, Rev. A. D., 272, 273, 276
Slave, ransom of a, 43 1 ; woman,
trouble over, 232 ; recovery
of a female, 355
Slave-killing, 287
Slavery, question of, 370
Slaves, position of, 387, etc.
Sleeping sickness, the, 523
Small, Dr., 246, 247
Small-pox, epidemic of, 331
Smelting, native, 446
Smith, Mr., 77

Smith, Rev. H. Sutton, 424, 428,

554, 561

Spaniards, conduct of, 80
Spirits, prohibition of, 396
Stanford, Dr., sermon by, 128
Stanley, Mr. H. M., 92, 264,
270, 273

‘ Stanley,’ the, 168
Stanley Falls, 207, 226, 228,
232, 235

Stanley Pool, 128, 230, 341
Stanley Pool Fire Fund, the,
240

Stannard, Mr., 521
Stapleton, Rev. W. H., 290, 317,
525, 527, 559
Stapleton, Mrs., 465, etc.
Steane, Francis, 294, 325
Stephens, Rev. J. R. M., 402
Stokes Croft, Bristol, 24
Stonelake Brothers, 450, 451
Strike, a native, 61
Suliman, a boy, 228
Sunday programme, a, 14
Sunday in camp, 153
‘ Sunny fountains, Afric’s,’ 66
Swamps, in the, 329
Swimming, native, 351

Tambora, 371
Tattooing, 203
Taxation of natives, 368, etc.

Index

587

Taylor, Bishop, 259
Taylor, 'Rev. T., letter of, 5
Ten Commandments translated,
280

Thomson, Rev. Q., 16 1
Thornton, Lieut., 434, 440
Threepenny-bit, the, 22
Thys, Captain, 301, 305
Ti, a boy, 87 ; visit of, to Eng-
land, 159, 163
Tippoo Tib, 215, 226, 270
Tooth-drawing, 502
Trade, influence of missions on,
385, etc. ; native, 176
Trannack Mill, 4
Translation work, 280, 284
Transport facilities, 436
Tritton, Mr. J., speech of, 129
Tsetse flies, 523
Tungwa, 107

Ukere, the, 207, 216
Ullathorne, Dr., letter to, 17
Underhill, 136, 314, 315, 333,
334, 338, 340

Underhill, Dr., letter of, 33
Unrest, native, 538
Upoto (Bopoto), 281, 285, 287,
503 .

Uriki river, 187

Van de Velde, Captain, 262
Vanderschick, Lieut., death of,
419

Vangele, Mons., 198
Verstraeton, Lieut., 418
Villages, strategic position of,
434

4 Ville de Paris,’ the, 415

Vivi, 1 12, 1 14
Von Frangois, 219

Wabuma, 175, 189
Wanga Wanga, 114
Wangermde, Vice - Governor,
417

Ward, Mr. H., 264
Wars, native, 283 ; with the
State, 320
Wathen, 217, 358
Wathen, Sir Charles, his gift,
358

Weaving, native, 443
Webb, Dr., 324

Wedding, a hurried, 149 ; a
native, 363

Weeks, Rev. J. H., 1 1 1, 1 1 5, 245,
282, 290, 534

Welle of Schweinfurth, the, 216 ;

mission at, 518
Weston, James, 14
Wheelman, the, 557
White, Rev. W. H., 292, 293,
349) 359) 362

Whitley, Rev. H. G., 217, 256
Williams, Mr., 462, 463
Winton, Sir F. de, 185, 221, etc.
Wissmann, Lieut., 227
Witchcraft, 352
Wolo, a chief, 355
Wuri, people of, 62

Yakusu, 361, 506, 524, 526, 561
Yalemba, 492, 498, 513, 534, etc.
Yapoma, 83

Zambesi Valley, the, 236
Zwarky, a boy, 217

PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED, LONDON AND BECCLES.

• §
■ - i

• t-

?■

MFm&A

Y fW

(A Sa

»C»S5fy

Kim

■

/-> ■' '

■

JAMES CHALMERS

His Autobiography and Letters.

By the late RICHARD LOVETT, M.A.,

Author of “James Gilmour of Mongolia,” etc.

Seventh Impression. With 2 Maps and 8 Portrait Illustrations,
511 pages. Large crown 8vo, cloth gilt, 3s. 6d. In padded
paste grain, round corners, gilt edges, 6s. 6d. net.

“ Altogether no brighter or more skilful narrative of missionary life
— from the subjective as well as from the objective point of view — has
ever been published than this.” — The Spectator.

“ It is the best missionary biography that has appeared during the
last twenty years. It is a book that will live and take rank as a mission-
ary classic. It is full of thrills, tremulous with pathos, glowing in its
passion, and sublime in its tragic ending. A book to be read and
re-read when the enthusiasm of humanity wanes, and we are tempted
to let fireside heroics take the place of action.” — The Daily News.

GRIFFITH JOHN

The Story of Fifty Years in China.

By R. WARDLAW THOMPSON, D.D.

(Foreign Secretary of the London Missionary Society).

Fifth Impression. With Two Maps and Sixteen other full-page Illus-
trations. Demy 8vo, cloth gilt, 568 pages, 3s. 6d.

“No one can read this story without being inwardly refreshed.
The mere adventure side of it is stirring to a degree. It reveals a
Pauline daring and endurance.” — Christian World.

“The story of Dr. John’s life is a very fascinating one, and it is told
by Dr. Wardlaw Thompson with much literary skill, and excellent-
taste and judgment.” — The Westminster Gazette .

W. HOLMAN BENTLEY

The Life and Labours of a Congo Pioneer.

By his Widow, H. M. BENTLEY.

With a Photogravure Portrait, Map, and 19 other Illustrations,
466 pages, demy 8vo, cloth gilt, 6s. net (by post, 6s. 5d.).

“This highly interesting memoir forms a worthy tribute to the
honourable life and devoted labours of a notable pioneer of Christianity
in Darkest Africa, who gave twenty-seven years to missionary work
upon the Congo. . . . The book forms an admirably interesting life-
story of successful mission work.” — The Standard.

“ Important in itself as the record of a notable, heroic and con-
secrated life, important also in the influence which it is sure to have
on scores of young men and women in our Churches.” — The Baptist
Times.

London : THE RELIGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY.

THE BAGANDA AT HOME

With one hundred pictures of life and work in Uganda.

By C. W. HATTERSLEY.

80 full-page Illustrations, demy 8vo, cloth gilt, 6s. net.

Mr. Hattersley knows more about Uganda and its people than any
author who is just now before the public. Would you know the
difference between the Uganda of Mtesa or the Uganda of King Daudi ;
or how the British administer Uganda ; or how the Baganda live
from day to day ; or how the missionaries have given the people a
system of education ; or how they marry in Uganda ; or how the
sleeping-sickness is slaying its thousands ; or how the Gospel has won
some of the most striking results in the history of Christendom?
Then this book will tell you.

UGANDA BY PEN AND CAMERA

By C. W. HATTERSLEY.

Second Impression. With a Preface by T. F. Victor Buxton, 34
Illustrations, large crown 8vo, cloth gilt, 2s.

“ The narrative is a vivid and soul-stirring record of one of the most
remarkable movements in the annals of missionary enterprise.” —
Christian.

“ Mr. Hattersley’ s book is full of interesting details, from which one
may get a clear idea of the country and its people.” — Spectator.

AMONG THE TIBETANS

By ISABELLA L. BISHOP, F.R.G.S.,

Author of “ Unbeaten Tracks in Japan,” etc.

With 22 Illustrations, crown 8vo, cloth, Is. 6d. ; also in paper cover, Is.

“This is one of the brightest, most life-like, and most perfectly
balanced of Mrs. Bishop’s works.” — Spectator.

“A delightful book of travel, characterised by all the distinguished
writer’s purity of style, vividness of description, and attention to
detail, which make her books so interesting and useful.” — Record.

THE CROSS IN THE LAND OF THE
TRIDENT.

Or, India -from a Missionary Point of View.

By HARLAN P. BEACH.

Crown 8vo, cloth, Is.

“ The trident, the three-pronged fork, which appears in every Siva
temple in India, has come to be regarded as the symbol of the Hindu
religion. This little book deals with missionary work in India, but is
in no sense a narrative. It, however, contains much matter which
will prove attractive to ordinary readers.” — English Churchman.

London : THE RELIGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY.

BISHOP HANNINGTON

And the Story of the Uganda Mission.

Prepared by W. GRINTON BERRY, M.A.

With Map, Portrait, 3 Coloured and 4 other Illustrations, crown 8vo.
cloth gilt, Coloured Medallion on Cover, Is. 6d.

The personality of Hannington was full of colour and vigour, and
the story of his work, particularly of his adventures in East Africa,
ending with his martyrdom on the shores of the Victoria Nyanza, is
cne of the most fascinating in missionary annals. Hannington was
himself a picturesque writer, with a noteworthy gift of producing
dashing and humorous descriptive sketches, and quite a third of the
present volume consists of Hannington’s own narratives. This volume
will serve to sustain and deepen the perennial interest in Uganda,
where the Gospel has won some of its most glorious triumphs.

ALFRED SAKER

The Pioneer of the Cameroon*,

By his Daughter, E. M. SAKER.

With Map, 3 Coloured and other Illustrations, Coloured Medallion
on Cover, crown 8vo, cloth gilt. Is. 6d.

The Cameroons are a little known land, but they have been the
scene of some of the most interesting work done by British mission-
aries on the West Coast of Africa. The land, like Sierra Leone, long
justified the title of “ The white man’s grave.” The people were
savages, amongst whom it was not easy to work. The language was
new, and Alfred Saker gave his life to this field. The story of his
adventures and encouragements is singularly interesting.

A DOCTOR AND HIS DOG IN UGANDA

From Letters and Journals of A. R. Cook, M.D.

Medical Missionary of the Church Missionary Society.

Edited by Mrs. H. B. COOK.

With a Preface by Eugene Stock. Second Impression. With Photo-
graph, Map of Uganda, and 12 other Illustrations, crown 8vo
cloth gilt, 2s.

“ With sincere pleasure I commend this little book. A great deal
has been published from time to time on Uganda and the Uganda
Mission, but this is the first book recounting the experiences of a
Medical Missionary. To one who remembers the past history it is
wonderful to read a book like the present.” — Eugene Stock.

“ This little book will be of interest to people other than those
actively engaged in mission work, for the social and economic con-
ditions of the country are by no means lost sight of.” — Manchester
Courier.

“ We know of no other book which gives so vivid and realistic a
picture of the daily life of the missionaries of Uganda.” — Record.

London: THE RELIGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY.

RIVERS OF WATER IN A DRY PLACE

or, From Africaner’s Kraal to Khama’s City.
The Story of Dr. Moffatt’s Life and Labours.

With Map and 7 Illustrations, crown 8vo, cloth, 2s. 6d.

“ The simple yet stirring story of Dr. Moffat’s life and labours, toils
and triumphs, in Bechuanaland. Such records are ever fresh and
stimulative.” — Christian .

“ A new and revised edition of a work that has been a very popular
item in the Society’s catalogue for many years. It is the story of
Robert Moffat’s work in South Africa, a story the interest of which
will never be outworn for Christian people.” — Methodist Recorder.

A MIRACLE OF MODERN MISSIONS

or, The Story of Matula, a Congo Convert.

By JOHN BELL,

Baptist Missionary, Wathen, Congo.

With an Introductory Note by Alfred Henry Baynes, and 13 Illus
trations, crown 8vo, cloth gilt, 2s.

“ Mr. Bell has been able to present a narrative of more than
average interest to the reader of missionary literature.” — Glasgow
Herald.

“ Matula’ s name will be handed down through this delightful narra-
tive as one of the trophies of our Congo mission.” — Baptist.

EASTERN MISSIONS FROM A SOLDIER’S
STANDPOINT

By COLONEL C. K. SCOTT MONCRIEFF, C.I.E.

Large crown 8vo, cloth gilt, 2s.

“This efficient soldier and administrator, this famous fighter ol
famines, believes in missionaries with all his heart. He never gets
beyond the individual standpoint, the Church hardly has a meaning
for him, he has no far-seeing criticism of methods, he just tells what
he knows with a simple confidence that the Gospel must make its
way.” — Church Tunes.

“ A plain, earnest narrative of facts such as the author supplies is
exceedingly impressive, and is much more conclusive than any
ordinary special pleading, however eloquent.” — Aberdeen Free Press.

“ The whole book gives a good bird’s-eye view, from a fresh stand-
point, of the Anglo-Saxon Christian responsibility, and a stirring
appeal for enlargement and energising of aim and method. ^—Chris-
tian World.

“ This testimony to the value of missions, coming as it does from
the pen of a soldier of high repute like Colonel Scott Moncrieff, is as
valuable as it is convincing.” — Dundee Courier.

London : THE RELIGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY.

OUR INDIAN SISTERS

By the Rev. E. STORROW.

(Formerly of the Calcutta Mission of the London Missionary Society.)

With 30 Illustrations, crown 8vo, cloth gilt, 3s. 6d.

Mr. Storrow describes what has been done towards educating the
women of India, what progress has been made in improving their
condition, and also what methods can be adopted to bestow still
further blessings upon them.

“ It contains much that is familiar, and a good deal that ought to be
familiar, but as a fact is either unknown or ignored.” — Globe.

“ Well written and interesting.” — Westminster Gazette.

CHENNA AND HIS FRIENDS

Hindu and Christian.

By EDWIN LEWIS,

Missionary at Bellary from 1866 to 1898.

With a Memoir of the Author by his Widow, a Portrait and 8 Illus-
trations. Crown 8vo, cloth gilt, 2s. 6d.

Chenna was a cultivator in Southern India, and Mr. Lewis traces
his history and graphically describes the difficulties he encountered
and the trials he endured when he renounced his religion. The reader
will learn much of the habits of life and thought amongst the natives,
the difficulties and encouragements of missionary work, and the trials
of converts.

“The story is extremely well told by Mr. Lewis in a simple and
picturesque style.” — Guardian.

“The work cannot fail to attract readers interested in Indian
missionary enterprise . ” — Scotsman .

A STRUGGLE FOR A SOUL

And other Stories of Life and Work in South India.

By EDYTH HINKLEY and MARIE L. CHRISTLIEB.

With an Introduction by the Rev. R. Wardlaw Thompson, M.A.,
D.D., and 13 Illustrations, crown 8vo, cloth gilt, 2s.

The sketches are vivid pictures of the actual conditions under which
missionary work is being carried on in the rural districts of Southern
India. The volume shows the great needs of the women of India,
and makes an earnest appeal for prayerful sympathy in the work of
spreading the Gospel among them.

“ All who are interested in missionary work will find *A Struggle
for a Soul ' a mine of pertinent illustrations. It lets us see India as
it was, as it is, and as we confidently believe it will be.” — Baptist
Times.

“ The book is written with sympathy, knowledge, and humour.”—
Christian World.

London : THE RELIGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY.

TASVIATE

The Life and Adventures of a Christian Hero.

By the late RICHARD LOVETT, M.A.

With 2 Maps and 15 full-page Illustrations. Large crown 8vo, cloth
gilt, 3s. 6d.

“ Every boy and girl ought to possess it ... a vivid and inspiring
narrative.” — British Weekly.

“ Tamate emerges from these pages a picturesque personality, with
the halo of true romance about him . . . Mr. Lovett pictures the man
as boys love to have their heroes pictured ... A book which boys
will relish and adults will enjoy.” — Christian World.

“ Not all the ingenuity which is spent on the making of blood-
curdling tales could devise anything so strange, so terrible as the
scenes in which Tamate bore his part, a part of unfailing courage and
cheerfulness. He was another Ulysses, shrinking from no danger,
but with a presence of Good Counsel always at his side.” — Spectator.

PIONEERING IN NEW GUINEA

By JAMES CHALMERS.

Revised Edition. With 7 Illustrations, large crown 8vo, cloth gilt,
3s. 6d.

“ We do not remember to have ever read a more interesting descrip-
tion of a savage people.” — Glasgow Herald.

“ The work is an admirable one, designed and carried out with skill
and judgment. The illustrations form a prominent feature among the
many attractions of a book deserving the most careful perusal and
consideration.” — Morning Post.

WORK AND ADVENTURE IN NEW
GUINEA

By JAMES CHALMERS.

New Edition. With 7 Illustrations, large crown 8vo, cloth gilt,
3s. 6d.

This work describes seven years of work along the South-Eastern
coast of New Guinea. Mr. Chalmers knew more of this country than
any other European. He spoke the native languages, and his
missionary journeys gave him much knowledge of native habits, &c.
He always travelled unarmed, and was several times in imminent peril.
The work abounds in interesting and thrilling incidents.

“An admirable sketch of life and work in New Guinea, where the
triumphs of Christianity are most indisputably shown. . . . The book
is one of veijy general interest, and should find readers in all ranks.” —
Yorkshire Post.

London : THE RELIGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY.

JAMES GILMOUR OF MONGOLIA

His Diaries, Letters, and Reports.

Edited and arranged by the late RICHARD LOVETT, M.A.
With Portrait of James Gilmour, 2 Maps, and other Illustrations.

Crown 8vo, cloth gilt, Is. 6d.

“ Not only deeply interesting as a record of missionary labour, but
teems with characteristic sketches of Chinese manners, customs, and
scenery . ” — Times .

“We gladly welcome this notable addition to the number of
impressive and fascinating missionary books — a volume fit to stand on
the same shelf with the biographies of Paton and Mackay.” — British
Weekly.

JAMES GILMOUR AND HIS BOYS

By the late RICHARD LOVETT, M.A.

With Map, Illustrations, and Facsimile Letters. Crown 8vo, cloth

gilt, Is. 6d.

“This volume ought to be in every Sunday School Library.” —
Christian.

“ An inspiring book. ... No one can read of this absolute devotion
to the Master’s service without being lifted up by it.” — Record.

AMONG THE MONGOLS

By the late Rev. JAMES GILMOUR, M.A.

Crown 8vo, cloth, 33 Illustrations, Is. 6d.

This work presents to the reader all that is noteworthy and interest-
ing in the home life, manners and customs, occupations and surround-
ings, modes of thought, superstitions and religious beliefs, and
practices of the Mongol tribes.

“ A really remarkable chronicle of travel and adventure.” — Globe.

MORE ABOUT THE MONGOLS

Selected arid arranged from the Diaries and
Papers of James Gilmour.

By the late RICHARD LOVETT, M.A.

Crown 8vo, cloth, 5s.

The greater portion of the material in this volume has never
appeared in print before. Two chapters are taken almost verbatim
from the full diaries James Gilmour kept during those extraordinary
experiences. These give in full detail the varying incidents of
that curious life. The work is intensely interesting, instructive and
impressive.

“ The experiences of a devoted missionary, whose gift of circum-
stantial narration has not inaptly been likened to Defoe’s.” — Times.

London : THE RELIGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY.

JAMES LEGGE

Missionary and Scholar.

By his Daughter, HELEN EDITH LEGGE.

With Photogravure Portrait and twenty-two other Illustrations. Large
crown 8vo, cloth gilt, 3s. 6d.

“There is not a dry page in this most fascinating Biography.”—
Dundee Courier.

“ It is an interesting book and a valuable contribution to the history
of Chinese missions.” — Athenceum.

“A story well worth telling, and sure to find many appreciative
readers.” — Christian World.

THOMAS WAKEFIELD

Missionary and Geographical Pioneer in East
Equatorial Africa.

By E. S. WAKEFIELD.

Second Edition. With Portrait and 10 other Illustrations. Large
crown 8vo, cloth gilt, 3s. 6d.

“ From beginning to end the work is of absorbing interest.” — The
Christian.

“No one with a love for the foreign missionary cause will read this
book without a feeling of profound thankfulness for such a devoted
worker. We most heartily commend the work to readers of all ages.”
— Methodist Times.

“ The story is romantic, adventurous, exciting, pathetic, and tragic
by turns.” — Daily News.

“ The information conveyed, the vivid descriptions given, and the
heroic life portrayed, all in a style singularly appropriate and
suggestive, make the book delightful reading.” — Yorkshire
Observer.

HENRY MARTYN

Saint and Scholar.

First Modern Missionary to the Mohammedans,

By GEORGE SMITH, C.I.E., LL.D.,

Author of “ Life of William Carey,” “Life of Alexander Duff,” etc.

With a Photogravure Portrait and 9 full-page Illustrations, 580 pages.
Large crown 8vo, cloth gilt, 6s.

“ Dr. Smith fills up with healthy human detail what before lay in
bare outline. We have here a Martyn who can talk, laugh, and fall
in love like other people, but who, while relating himself wholesomely
in this way to the rest of his fellows, in what was special to his charac-
ter and work, still rises to heights that pierce the heavens.” — Christian
World .

“The author knows his subject well, has arranged his materials skil-
fully, and carries the reader pleasantly along to the end.” — Spectator.

London : THE RELIGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY.

Internet Archive Audio

Featured

Top

Images

Featured

Top

Software

Featured

Top

Texts

Featured

Top

Video

Featured

Top

Mobile Apps

Browser Extensions

Archive-It Subscription

Save Page Now

Full text of "The life of George Grenfell : Congo missionary and explorer"

See other formats